Participatory Evaluation of Rice Varieties for Specific Adaptation to Organic Conditions in Italy

Giuseppe De Santis, Daniela Ponzini, Rachele Stentella, Tommaso Gaifami, Bettina Bussi, Rosalia Caimo-Duc, Ugo Stocchi, Marco Cuneo, Marco Paravicini, Riccardo Bocci, Matteo Petitti and Salvatore Ceccarelli ()
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Giuseppe De Santis: Rete Semi Rurali, Scandicci, 50018 Metropolitan, Italy
Daniela Ponzini: Rete Semi Rurali, Scandicci, 50018 Metropolitan, Italy
Rachele Stentella: Rete Semi Rurali, Scandicci, 50018 Metropolitan, Italy
Tommaso Gaifami: Rete Semi Rurali, Scandicci, 50018 Metropolitan, Italy
Bettina Bussi: Rete Semi Rurali, Scandicci, 50018 Metropolitan, Italy
Rosalia Caimo-Duc: Azienda Terre di Lomellina, Candia di Lomellina, 27031 Pavia, Italy
Ugo Stocchi: Azienda Una Garlanda, Rovasenda, 13040 Vercelli, Italy
Marco Cuneo: Cascina Gambarina, Abbiategrasso, 20081 Milano, Italy
Marco Paravicini: Azienda Cascine Orsine, Bereguardo, 27021 Pavia, Italy
Riccardo Bocci: Rete Semi Rurali, Scandicci, 50018 Metropolitan, Italy
Matteo Petitti: Rete Semi Rurali, Scandicci, 50018 Metropolitan, Italy
Salvatore Ceccarelli: Independent Researcher, 63100 Ascoli Piceno, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 17, 1-20

Abstract: Rice is the fourth most important crop in Italy with a growing area under organic management. We conducted a participatory evaluation of 21 rice cultivars (10 old, 10 modern and a mixture) in four organic/biodynamic farms, for two cropping seasons, to assess the extent of varieties × farms and varieties × years within farm interactions and farmers’ preferences. There were significant differences between farms and varieties, as well as large interactions between varieties and farms, particularly in the case of plant height and reactions to Fusarium fujikuroi Nirenberg (bakanae) and Magnaporthe oryzae B Cooke (leaf and neck blast), but also for grain yield. There were also large interactions between varieties and years, which resulted in considerable differences in stability among varieties with one of the old, one modern and the mixture combining high grain yield and stability. Farmers, regardless of gender, were able to visually identify the highest yielding varieties in a consistent way across years, and although accustomed to seeing uniform varieties, they scored the mixture higher than the mean. The results are discussed in the context of a decentralized-participatory breeding program, to serve the target population of heterogenous environments represented by organic and biodynamic farms.

Keywords: organic agriculture; biodiversity; participatory plant breeding; heterogeneous material; farmers’ knowledge; rice; climate change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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