The Phem Research Center on Plant Health Modelling of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore was launched through a conference reuniting both national and international scholars, held in Sala Piana at the University Campus of Piacenza. Since nowadays mathematical models are a crucial part of Decision Support Systems (DSS) in Agriculture 4.0, there is the necessity of providing continuity to scientific research on plant health modelling, providing linkage on methodological, developmental and applicational knowledge between researchers and final users, while also providing educational activities to field professionals. That is why Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore decided to establish an appropriate research center.
Professor Paola Battilani, director of the Phem research center, associated to the Department of Sustainable Plant Productions (Diproves) of the University Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, states that the most interesting aspects are both plant health and modelling. «As plant pathologists – she says – we work on their diseases, but we focus more willingly on their health. Now, there is more attention to the agronomical part, the plant growth in particular, but later on we will also extend our interest in the soil».
The modelling approach seeks to predict plant behavior, which is one fundamental inquiry in the climate change era. «The goal is to create mathematical models to understand what will happen to the plant, to its yield and quality» explains the professor, highlighting how the aim of Phem is to «build models that can operate in any environment».
«If the model integrates well the plant physiology and the pathogen behavior more than other microorganisms in the environment – says Battilani – we can apply it everywhere».
The aim of the center is to establish a network. «It must be taken into account that we can already count on a good network – she goes on – both in Italy, where we are the only faculty working on modelling, and both at an international level where we are among the few working on it anyway».
«In this way – she states again – our faculty dedicates itself to mycotoxin, toxic substances produced by fungi, modelling: mechanistic modelling, or modelling that explains better the fungus behavior, is our prerogative. No one else does it globally».
The main purpose of the Center – which relies on a Board of Directors and a Scientific Committee – is to promote and carry out basic and applied activities in this field. Those activities embrace every plant health aspect, from the point of view of causal agents (pathogens and mycotoxigenic fungi, phytophages, weeds, abiotic stress), of plants (growth and development models, damage and response mechanisms to harmful organisms) and of mitigation/protection means (fungicides models, biocontrol agents).
The state of the art and the research perspectives were addressed during the “Modelling and plant health: research and application” conference, sponsored by the scientific societies and Agritech. A confrontation between the model users (experts in technical assistance, companies offering Agriculture 4.0 services and technical means) took place, regarding the modelling needs and perspectives.
Among others, Matteo Lorito, director of Agritech and rector of Università Federico II of Naples, was one of the meeting guests. «Agritech – explains Lorito – is a great challenge and a big dream, a national center thanks to which Italy combines the best it has in across-the-country laboratories to integrate the latest technologies. If today an entrepreneur wants to implement a new technology or innovative product, he may contact Agritech rather than the individual research institute. Thus, it is a sort of super-hub, which counts around 1500 researchers from Southern to Northern Italy».
The word farmer as we used to say it, states Lorito, sounds obsolete nowadays. Today’s farmers can indeed use tools like sensors and robots, or the elaborate models from centers like Phem from Cattolica, which help to make decisions. «These last ones – says again the Agritech director – affect all of us not only in terms of production, of quality and of costs, but also in terms of environmental protection and small to medium-scale company development».
«Today – concludes Lorito – we face two great challenges: digital and ecological transition. The agri-food sector brings them together, and that is why we talk about eco-digital transition. In agriculture, it has already begun. One entrepreneur with quality production in Sicily must know that one researcher in Trento could have the useful data or irrigation management solution to him. This is Agritech».
