The microorganism community that grows under duckweed shelter can play an important role on treatment processes. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the zooplankton dynamic and microbial community in duckweed ponds (DPs) applied for domestic wastewater treatment under open field conditions. A pilot system comprised of two DPs in series (DP1 and DP2), with 10 m each, received domestic wastewater through a flow rate of 200 L·day. Thus, the system was monitored during 314 days through samples collected and analysed weekly. Also, the zooplankton organisms were identified and quantified. DNA sequencing was performed in order to identify the bacterial populations. The findings showed a high efficiency of nutrient removal with 93% and 91% of total phosphorus and total nitrogen, respectively. A high density of microcrustaceans was observed in DP1 reaching 4,700 org.100 mL and rotifers (over than 32,000 org.100 mL) in DP2, that could be related to the low suspended solids concentration (<30 mg·L) and turbidity (<10 NTU). The bacterial community showed a strong heterogeneity between samples collected along the seasons. Through these findings, it is possible to realise that the understanding of ecology could help to enhance the operation and designs of DPs.

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Produzioni agricole e forestali per biomassa a impiego energetico Piermaria Corona (1) , Roberto Tognetti (2) , Andrea Monti (3) , Serenella Nardi (4) , Massimo Faccoli (4) , Silvio Salvi (3) , Leonardo Casini (5) , Marco Antonio Pantaleo (6) , Gianfranco Pergher (7) , Raffaele Cavalli (8) , Giuseppe Corti (9) , Pietro Buzzini (10) , Fabio Terribile (11) , Renzo Motta (12) , Giustino Tonon (13) , Raoul Romano (14) , Manuela Plutino (1) , Alessandro Paletto (1) , Lorenzo Sallustio (15) , Rinaldo Comino (16) , Claudio Garrone (17) , Graziano Martello (17) , Paolo Angelini (18) , Danilo Monarca (19) , Giuseppe Zimbalatti (20) Agricultural and forest biomass production for energy use Global changes push to set up strategies able to mitigate and adapt agricultural and forest crops to environmental variability, and the sustainable intensification of production processes under agricultural and forestry systems is one of the approaches mainly supported. In Italy biomass and biogas are the renewable energy sources that have shown the greatest potential for growth in recent years. In this context, during the XV National Congress held in Bolzano in February 2018, the Italian Association of Agricultural Scientific Societies has promoted an analysis about potentialities and limits of the sustainable intensification of agricultural and forestry systems for bioenergy production. This document reports the outcome, in the form of a commented discussion, on the main evidences and proposals from technical-scientific and operational points of view.