Erika Salvagno

This project aims at addressing environmental problems regarding the use of new Biobased Products (BPs) extracted by alkaline hydrolysis of the solid anaerobic digestate of municipal biowastes, for an eco-sustainability agriculture, by transforming municipal biowaste (MBW) into sustainable resources.  

At the same time, the research project aims to evaluate the biostimulant effect of these new BPs act on the biochemical responses of the plant-soil system. Furthermore, the effect of BPs in conditions of water and salt stress in the plants will be evaluated. The effect of BPs on crops (tomato, eggplant and lettuce) will be evaluated by monitoring growth parameters (fresh and dry weights of shoot and root and efficient use of nitrogen), and the N-flux in the plant-soil system. As regards the soil, biochemical parameters will be evaluated in order to investigate what happens indirectly to the soil microbiome, which is important for soil health and plant fertility.  

The latter parameters will be studied in view of a future scenario where water resources will be reduced to the minimum, and so it could be useful to use brackish water (even if mixed).