Room: King Willem Alexander
Date: Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Time: 17:30 - 18:30 CEST
Session code 1AO.7
Low ILUC strategies to improve the sustainability of industrial crops production
Integration Cereal-legume Intercropping and PGPR Biostimulation to Enhance Biomass Yield and Feedstock Potential for SAF Production
Short Introductive summary
A large-scale field trial was carried out in Northern Italy to evaluate the combined effect of cereal-legume intercropping and microbial biostimulation on biomass crops grown for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) feedstock. The experiment was conducted under open-field conditions, using traditional agronomic practices and standard farm machinery to ensure that the system could be easily adopted by farmers. Integrating PGPR-based biostimulant with intercropping improved biomass yield and land-use efficiency, as shown by higher efficiency indices and better biometric and physiological responses. These results demonstrate that combining microbial and agronomic approaches can provide a practical, low-input solution to increase biomass availability for SAF production under Mediterranean conditions, contributing to more sustainable bioenergy cropping systems.
Presenter
Elena FERRO
University of Bologna, ITALY
Presenter's biography
Elena Ferro is a PhD candidate at the Department of Agri-Food Sciences and Technologies (DISTAL) of the University of Bologna, where she conducts research in the field of non-food industrial crops and their potential use for bioenergy production, such as sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).
Biographies and Short introductive summaries are supplied directly by presenters and are published here unedited
Co-authors:
W. Zegada-Lizarazu, University of Bologna, ITALY
A. Parenti, University of Bologna, ITALY
E. Pagliarini, University of Bologna, ITALY
F. Gaggìa, University of Bologna, ITALY
A. Monti, University of Bologna, ITALY
Session reference: 1AO.7.1