Projects - A (Antonella) Cristina
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One of Antonella's primary projects at the moment involves the cultivation of Freesia in greenhouse. To reduce the energy consumption linked to substrate steaming, Antonella actively engages in the research and improvement of innovative systems that operate with reduced substrate volumes but still maintain the requirement for the Freesia corm to achieve the intended temperature conditions.
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The expanding media sector and its consumers will be required to replace their peat consumption with alternative materials, given that peat extraction leads to depletion of peatlands' natural resources and carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to the phenomenon of global warming. While currently employed as a soil amendment, biochar has demonstrated possibility as a medium for cultivation in greenhouse horticulture. Antonella focuses primarily on evaluating the chemical, physical, and biological properties of the biochar in order to determine whether or not it is suitable for use as a growing medium in long-term cultivation experiments.