Research Projects

Research projects currently active at the Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection:

2018-A-289 Plant Health Bioinformatic Network (PHBN)

In the last decade, High-Throughput Sequencing (HTS), also referred to as Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), has revolutionized biology and medicine. The technology allows DNA and RNA sequencing data to be generated in huge amounts at a very low cost, enabling the parallel processing of many samples. The resulting large amounts ...

A global, reciprocal sentinel gardens approach to assess risk of invasion by alien pathogens and insect pests of important woody plant species

Set up of sentinel plantations to prevent the introduction of alien invasive pests and pathogens. Project leader: Alberto Santini IPSP personnel: Nicola Luchi, Duccio Migliorini, Emanuele Nigrone, Francesco Pecori, Alessia L. Pepori. Start: 01/09/2019 End: 30/09/2022 ...

Accordo di collaborazione scientifica per la realizzazione di indagini, studi e ricerche di interesse comune nei settori della patologia e avversità delle piante arboree e arbustive ornamentali e forestali tra Regione Toscana e IPSP-CNR

Aims of the project: The project includes monitoring activities throughout the Tuscan territory of some alien pathogenic organisms that are subject to quarantine measures and the development of precise, rapid and effective diagnostic systems. Project leader: Alberto Santini IPSP personnel: Nicola Luchi, Duccio Migliorini, Emanuele Nigrone, Francesco Pecori, Alessia L. ...

Accordo interistituzionale Servizio Fitosanitario regione Piemonte e Istituto per la Protezione Sostenibile delle Piante, CNR (FITOPIEM)

Institutional collaboration between the Phytosanitary Sector and Technical-Scientific Services of the Piedmont Region and the Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection for the identification and characterization of plant pathogens and parasites and the development of sustainable strategies for their control; the study of interactions with other plant organisms and the environment; ...

Adaptation mechanism of insect holobiont toward xenobiotics and its application to novel pentachlorophenol biodegradation systems

Bilateral agreement CNR-JSPS (Japan): identification of new metabolic models and related genes and enzymes involved in this degradation process, through physiological, biochemical and genetic analyses of strains selected for resistance to PCP of Drosophila melanogaster. Project Leader: Maurilia Monti IPSP personnel: Paolo Pedata Start: 20/03/2020 End: 31/12/2022 ...

Arbuscular mycorrhiza potential to modify grapevine defence against viruses (MYCO GRAPE)

MYCO-GRAPE is a project of the Institute for Adriatic Crops and Karst Reclamation (Split, Croatia) funded by the Croatian Science Fundation. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are proven to have potential for alleviation of biotic stress in plants and activation of mycorrhiza-induced resistance. However, there are significant gaps in the knowledge ...

Aurumfolium

The AURUMFOLIUM project aims to identify, enhance and optimize alternative sources of income for Tuscan farms, using by-products that are currently scarcely utilized such as leaves, flowers or fruits of  species native of Mediterranean coastal environment. This aim can be achieved by transferring the scientific knowledge acquired by IPSP (Institute ...

BatRam: Diagnosi di Batteri fitopatogeni mediante spettroscopia Raman e machine learning

The Bat-Ram project plans to apply Raman spectroscopy to rapidly characterize and identify plant pathogenic bacteria, e.g. Pseudomonas syringae, Xanthomonas campestris, Erwinia amylovora, agents of serious bacteriosis on actinidia, bean and pome fruit crops. The technique will be validated on other bacterial species and on various isolates present in the ...

Biocontrol of Xylella and its vector in olive trees for integrated pest management (BIOVEXO)

The BIOVEXO Project explores innovative biopesticides, which target the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa. Six candidate biocontrol solutions (bacterial strains, microbial metabolites, plant extracts, entomopathogenic fungus) acting either against X. fastidiosa or its vector will be tested within the BIOVEXO Project. These biopesticides will be evaluated for use in curative and preventive approaches of X. fastidiosa to ...

Breeding ed innovazioni a supporto della corilicoltura piemontese (BREEDINCORE)

Hazelnut cultivation in Piedmont is a rapidly growing agricultural sector characterized by: i) constant and significant increase in the total area planted; ii) high quality profile of its production, based on the cultivar ‘Tonda Gentile Trilobata’ (TGT). This favorable situation is contrasted by the negative impact of climate change on ...

Buone pratiche per l’autocontrollo e la gestione fitosanitaria sostenibile nel vivaismo ornamentale (AUTOFITOVIV)

Aims of the project: push companies to adopt autonomous control criteria to avoid the introduction of alien and / or emerging pathogens and insects. To do this, we intend to draw up a list of those potentially associated with the ornamental species cultivated in the Pistoia district which, with the ...

Climate Smart WATer Management and Sustainable DEVelopment for food and agriculture in North-East Africa (WATDEV)

Management of water resources in East African river basins is a sensitive issue, linked both to food security and water management in agriculture. Water management is strictly interlinked with the sustainability of other natural resources, such as biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, soil, energy and with livelihoods of people. In many ...

Collaboration for the project DEBUG

Contract between Università’ Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza and CNR – Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection for the realization of the project n. 29 “DEBUG – New knowledge for the control of the alien pest Halyomorpha halys in vineyards of the Lombardy Region ” funded by Regione Lombardia 2018 D.D.S. ...

Compostaggio in situ per la tutela, la valorizzazione e la gestione Ecosostenibile dei Castagneti (PSR – CompoEcoCast)

The project aims at introducing logistic and process innovations, both agronomic and technological, in the chestnut ecoystem, relative to the management of c residues and therefore of the carbon cycle. The protocol is founded on the preparation of ligno-cellulosic piles deriving from both crop residues of the chestnut (fallen hedgehogs, ...

CRIREC

The aim of the CRIREC project is to recover varieties of chrysanthemum in great demand from a commercial point of view, but which have now disappeared from the catalogs of both Dutch and Danish breeders; the varieties “Turner”, “Snowdon”, “Dilana” and “Spider” will be considered which, due to viral diseases ...

DROni per il monitoraggio Noccioli sul Territorio (DroNuts)

The main objective of DroNuts is the construction of a hardware and software infrastructure capable of providing the Piedmontese sector of hazelnut production with an economic and reliable remote sensing service, based on the use of drones able to evaluate the pathophysiological state of the plants.   Project Leader: Emanuela ...

EFSA-HRP-1 SPECIFIC AGREEMENT No 1– Lot 1 for taxa traded mostly as plants for planting in fruit or vegetable production (IPSPxHRP)

In the frame of this project, IPSP collaborates with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to the activities regarding the preparation of commodity risk assessment.   Project Leader: Francesco Di Serio IPSP personnel: Umberto Bernardo, Giovanni Bubici, Nicola Centorame, Michela Chiumenti, Cristina Marzachì, Concetta Mottura, Elena Fanelli. Start: 01/06/2020 End: ...

European virus Archive – Global (EVA-GLOBAL)

The European virus Archive – Global (EVA-GLOBAL; https://www.european-virus-archive.com ) is a non-profit organisation including a global network with expertise in virology, consisting of >40 partner laboratories based at EU member state and non-EU institutions. The aim of the project is to collect, amplify, characterize, standardize, authenticate, and distribute viruses and ...

FD_LAMPvett: Diagnostica tempestiva per il rilevamento del fitoplasma della Flavescenza Dorata della vite

The objective of the FD_LAMPvett project is to develop a rapid molecular LAMP technique for the early identification of the grapevine flavescence dorée (FD) phytoplasma. The developed LAMP technique will be compared with the LAMP protocols already identified for the detection of FD phytoplasma in infected grapevine plants. To evaluate ...

FlavescEnza DOrata: verso l’identificazione dei meccanismi di ResistenzA e/o tolleranza in vite (FEDORA)

Flavescence dorée (FD), a quarantine disease that afflicts the viticulture of Southern Europe, is a real threat to the regional economy. Since the management of FD is based exclusively on preventive control strategies that are both ecologically impacting (mandatory insecticide treatments) and expensive (elimination of infected plants and their replacement ...