Preface: agronomy and agronomist (3 h)
Crop Ecology( 24 h).
Agro-ecosystem and ecological attributes. Growth: growth rate and assimilation, photosynthetic systems, radiation interception and radiation use efficiency. Development: phenology and phonological scale, developmental rate, photoperiodic and thermal control of development. Climate: radiation and radiation balance, air and soil temperature, wind, air humidity, hydrometeors, evaporation and evapotranspiration.
Stress from climatic events: stress from low and high temperature, the excess of wind and the windbreak.
Climates and climatic diagrams. On the nature of soil: inorganic and organic materials. Physical properties of the soil: texture, soil structure, porosity and deepness. Chemistry proprieties of the soil: ion exchange, buffering capacity, soil acidity and alkalinity, saline, sodic, and saline-sodic soils. Water in soil: water potential and soil water content, wilting point and field capacity, hydraulic conductivity, infiltration. Evaporation and Evapotranspiration.
Agronomic management (17 h)
Soil management: plant nutrition, management of soil fertility, tillage, drainage, protection from erosion
Weed control. Monoculture. Mixtures and Intercropping.
Laboratories (12 h):
Excursion to the experimental farm ‘Mauro Deidda’: experimental trials, cereals, pulses, forage crops, meteorological station, instruments for the measure of radiation interception, canopy temperature, leaf area index, soil humidity ecc.