Effect of Planting Density in Two Thistle Species Used for Vegetable Rennet Production in Marginal Mediterranean Areas

Abstract

In Mediterranean cropping systems, it is important to utilize marginal lands for the cultivation of non-food crops. Spontaneous thistle genera such as Cynara cardunculus L. and Onopordum tauricum Willd. are native to southern Europe. Previous research has focused on their spontaneous growth in the environment or ability to supply biofuel. The aim of this study was to identify the effect of two different planting densities on the flower differentiation, vegetable rennet production and weed control of O. tauricum Willd. and C. cardunculus L. in rainfed unfertilized Mediterranean cropping systems. The results showed that plant density influenced most of the biomass parameters for O. tauricum Willd. but no significant differences were observed for C. cardunculus L. Higher densities of both species were beneficial for weed control. We recommend the use of C. cardunculus L. and O. tauricum Willd. as suitable species for vegetable rennet production in Mediterranean organic cropping systems.

Microbial Dynamics of a Specialty Italian Raw Ewe’s Milk Cheese Curdled with Extracts from Spontaneous and Cultivated Onopordum tauricum Willd

“…Flower heads from spontaneous O. tauricum Willd. plants were collected in July 2020 in the outer fringes of the Monti Sibillini National Park in the municipality of Visso (MC, Italy) according to Foligni et al [ 25 ], while flower heads from cultivated plants were harvested in July 2020 from the experimental and didactic farm “Pasquale Rosati” (Università Politecnica delle Marche, Agugliano, AN, Italy) according to Zenobi et al [ 31 ]. The crude extracts (CE) from spontaneous (st) and cultivated (ct) flower heads were prepared following the procedure outlined by Mozzon et al [ 24 ] and illustrated in Figure 1 .…”

“…Though indicated as a source of prebiotics and antioxidants [ 28 , 29 ], and recognized as a promising crop in terms of adaptation capacity, required inputs, and yields [ 30 , 31 , 32 ], this species is currently still underused.…”

Weed Management Practices to Improve Establishment of Selected Lignocellulosic Crops

“…Cardoon has a deep rooting system and needs to be cultivated in deep soils to enable the rooting system to develop properly [73] ( Gominho et al 2018). Soil preparation should include ploughing at 30-40 cm depth and harrowing [75][76][77]. Subsoiling (69 cm depth) followed by double harrowing is needed in the case of extremely heavy soils [78].…”

“…Harrowing before sowing or planting is required to control weeds [75,78,79]. The seeding rates are about 3-4 kg ha −1 , and the common row spacings are 70, 75, and 100 cm [15,77,80]. Sowing depth should be 2 cm [81].…”

“…In addition, a recent study highlighted the importance of adopting increased seeding rates for weed suppression in cardoon. In particular, Zenobi et al [77] noticed that seeding at 1 m distance between rows and 0.5 m distance within rows reduced weed biomass by 65% compared to seeding cardoon at 1 m inter-and intrarow distances. To control weeds, hoeing between crop rows is widely suggested [73,82].…”