Corso di Laurea in Produzioni e Gestione degli Animali in Allevamento e Selvatici - PGAAS

The course contributes to reach the Bachelor learning objectives by promoting basic knowledge of the crop, cropping system and forage system mangement. The course aims at providing the student with the tools and knowledge needed to identify the main crops, forages and the main plant species of natural coenoses of interest for livestock and wildlife, as well as techniques to manage them properly. 

 

 

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING SKILLS

Students will acquire specific technical knowledge of the topic, and will be able to:

• identify main local crops of interest as feed;
• identify the main phenologic stage of crops;
• identify seeds and/or fruits of the main crops;
• recognize the main agricultural practices, abiotic and biotic adversities affecting crops;
• recognize the main grassland species;
• recognize main types of forages and the structures for their conservation;
• estimate the crop water and nutrient requirements.

ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

In the first part of the course students, will acquire basic knowledge of general agronomy. In the second part, this knowledge will be applied to an integrated analysis of the main field crops that have an interest as feed or forages, and to the strategies for their management, under the principles of sustainable production. In particular, students will acquire basic knowledge needed for interpreting and understanding cropping and forage systems of livestock farms, pastoral system management, and the nutritional, microbiological and health quality of farm forages.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

The  course will provide students with the appropriate technical language useful to describe agricultural activities.

JUDGEMENT AUTONOMY

Students will be trained to evaluate the relationships between environmental factors and agronomic management practices, to interpret the reasons for choosing specific technical options.

Lessons will be held in classroom and outdoor (see Programma for partitioning). During fieldwork the student will be organized in small groups. They will experience several crop situations and verify the effects of the interactions of the crop practices with the environment. They will also fill technical templates and perform simple computation exercises based on field assessments with a problem solving approach.  

In case of a prolongation of the sanitary emergence, national and University rules will be followed. This might change the way lectures are given and organised.

The exam consists of a written, an oral and a practical test.

The written test, aimed to assess theoretical knowledge, consists of 3 open questions plus 2 short or multiple choice questions. Each open question sums to a maximum of 8/30, each other question sums to a maximum of 3/30. The minimum passing grade is 18/30.

Tho oral test is mainly a discussion and integration of the written test.

The practical test, aimed to verify competences in the identification of the main crops, their phenology, main seeds and fruits, abiotic and biotic stress, forage types and their conservation methods, consists in the identification of plants, parts of plants, seeds and fruits in form of samples or photographs. Three identifications are proposed, each one summing to a maximum of 10/30.

The final note is the weighted average of the written test (50% weight), the oral test (weight 20%) and the practical test (30%). All tests must be taken and passed on the same exam session.

No interim test will be offered

In case of a prolongation of the sanitary emergence, national and University rules will be followed. The exam might be an oral online test, and part of questions might be posed as an online quiz.

During the course, support activities (identification of the fore mentioned items) will be offered on request of the students. During the week prior to the exam dates, a review will be offered on request of the students to improve preparation and clarify specific topics. 

 

Course outline

 

	Lectures (hours)	Practice (hours
Introduction: meaning and scopes of agronomy. Food and sustainability challenges	2
Natural ecosystems and Agro-ecosystems: structure, functioning and classification of ecosystems. Conditions, resources and dynamics of ecosystems. Main natural ecosystems in temperate environments	2
Pedoclimatic environment: Description of the main agro-meteorological parameters and relationship with agricultural crops. Phenological stages and thermal sum	3
Pedoclimatic environment: Soil. Main physical and chemical properties	3
General agronomy: Description of the main agronomic techniques applied to  crops: Soil tillage, crop rotation, irrigation, fertilization and dprotection. Cropping systems	9	3
Botanical terms	1
Wheat and other winter cereals: Morphology and identification, main ecological and utilization characteristics, description of the cropping system and interaction between agricultural practices, productivity and quality	4
Soil and winter cereals: Field excursion: evaluation of the soil texture, winter cereals and phenological stage		2
Maize and summer crops: Morphology and identification, main ecological and utilization characteristics, uses, quality classification, description of the cropping system and interaction between agricultural practices, productivity and quality	3
Protein and oil crops: Introduction to crops and their value in the cropping system. Soybean cropping techniques	2
Forage crops: Classification of forage systems. Basics of forage quality. Main fodder, graminaceous and leguminous species for leys, meadows and pastures. Ecological and management characteristics of leys, meadows and pastures	3
Forage conservation: haymaking and ensiling	2
Permanent meadows and pastures: Basics of vegetation stydies: palatability and pastoral value. Pasture management elements: production, stocking rate, grazing techniques.	2
Farming forage systems	1
Field excursion to a farm: Analysis of the cropping system and agronomic management of tcrops, use of forage crops, evaluation of forage conservation systems (silage, hay). Analysis of field crops and of the effects of the adopted management systems, visit to the farm machinery		4
Field excursion to an agro-pastoral farm: Identification of forage crops and some natural and semi-natural ecosystems. Grazing techniques		4
TOTAL	40	10

Teaching could be modified according to possible limitations due to the sanitary emergence. However, online teaching will be ensured for the whole duration of the course.

Knowledge of chemistry, ecology, plant biology and animal biology are preparatory.