AgroHydrological Sensing and Modeling Laboratory

09/05/2026

10/04/2026

🌱📊🚀 Want to see how digital technologies are used in agriculture?

Join the Application Scenarios modules of the AGRITECH EU Master’s Programme and explore real cases, practical tools, and innovative solutions.

From crops and livestock to irrigation, plant protection, and mechanization — each module is hands-on and focused on real applications.

📍 Online and in-person classes in Pisa
👉 Check the modules in the carousel
🔗 Enroll now: https://www.agridigital-skills.eu/master-agritech-eu/

10/04/2026

🚀 GHG monitoring campaign launched in an agroforestry system under Long-Term Experiment (LTE)

Soil flux chambers deployed to measure CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, and H₂O exchanges in situ.

Activity carried out within the PNRR Agritech program.

👨‍🔬 Lorenzo Bonzi, Angela Puig Sirera, Silvia Pampana & Lorenzo Tramacere in action

13/03/2026

🔬 Demonstration day of next-generation 4K microscopy and 3D analysis

Today we explored 4K microscopy and high-resolution 3D profilometry (Keyence Inc.) together with colleagues from the Smart Polymer Group – Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Pisa (spg.dcci.unipi.it).

Using state-of-the-art instrumentation, we observed and measured the microstructure of porous membranes, investigating key aspects of agricultural hydrology and porous media hydraulics.

The system enables micrometric analysis of surface morphology, pore distribution, and surface roughness—a parameter that strongly influences hydraulic flow processes.

A valuable opportunity for technical exchange on tools that are transforming how we observe and measure materials at the microstructural scale.

10/03/2026

📍 Field day at Calafata living-lab with the R&D team of ICT International 🌐 https://ictinternational.com/

Hands-on session focused on tree water status monitoring in commercial orchards.

We installed and tested the ICT International SFM1 – Heat Ratio Method Sap Flow meter alongside an existing apple orchard to evaluate data quality, robustness, and integration potential within irrigation decision support models.

21/02/2026

🌾💧 Plant Water Status Monitoring Is Essential in Sparse Cropping Systems

Sparse crops generate strong plant water status gradients, across the field and over time.

Under these conditions, uniform crop coefficients and bulk evapotranspiration estimates are often insufficient. Evapotranspiration partitioning (E vs T) becomes highly sensitive to plant-level variability.

The ISHS Working Group IR2 provides valuable resources on measuring plant water status — including sap flow, water potential, and dendrometry — supporting more effective monitoring of spatial and temporal variability, improving ET partitioning, and enabling more robust irrigation decisions in heterogeneous fields.

🔗 https://ishs.org/news/ishs-working-group-ir2-sensing-plant-water-status-online-resources/

Rafael Poyatos, Working Group Chair, February 2026 At the global scale, the amount of water transpired by plants exceeds that transported by all rivers to the oceans. This water flux from the soil to the atmosphere is strongly regulated by plants in order to maintain a favorable water status. This r...

17/02/2026

Marasco and Dichio (PhD in AgrHySMo Lab) conducting soil sampling —> soil water retention and root water uptake in kiwi orchards.
Monitoring soil profiles and analyzing water fluxes provide the technical foundation to properly design irrigation systems and define irrigation volumes and scheduling aligned with the plant’s actual needs.

13/02/2026

We've reached a new milestone!
The takeaway is clear: precision agriculture must be matched by precision hydraulics.

Our latest findings show that non-uniform irrigation can introduce operational artefacts into spatial analyses, resulting in misleading management zones.

By integrating topography, vegetation vigour, soil electrical conductivity, and emitter flow rates, we enable more reliable delineation of management zones.

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13/02/2026

Emanuele Dichio, dottorando in Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali all’Università di Pisa, ha vinto il Young Minds Award come miglior esposizione all’XI International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops.

Il premio è stato assegnato per una ricerca dedicata allo sviluppo di un sistema avanzato di supporto alle decisioni sull’irrigazione, applicato alla viticoltura di precisione e basato su reti di sensori wireless e connettività 5G con backhaul satellitare.

Il progetto affronta la gestione sostenibile delle risorse idriche in aree rurali con scarsa connettività, combinando sensoristica IoT, modelli di bilancio idrico e infrastrutture di comunicazione avanzate.

Complimenti a Emanuele Dichio e al team di ricerca!

📸 Nella foto: Emanuele Dichio durante la cerimonia di premiazione, con il prof. Luca Grappadelli e il dott. Alessio Scalisi, organizzatori del Simposio.

22/01/2026

AgriHySMo laboratory contributes to the XI International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops, held in Victoria (Tatura), Australia 🌏💧

The laboratory was represented by Lorenzo Bonzi and Emanuele Dichio, bringing a truly multidisciplinary approach to the symposium, combining crop ecophysiology, agricultural hydrology, and ICT technologies, including sensing/modelling systems for data-driven support tools.

Well done!! Many thanks to everyone involved. 🚀🌱