PEI-AGRI

Operating group on innovation, quality, traceability in sericulture to develop sources of supplementary income for farms

Obiettivi
Objectives

The general objective is establishing and spreading innovation in the cocoon production chain in Italy through a demonstration action involving different farms. The specificgoals are: 1) Italian cocoon is clearly identifiable 2) Silkworm's by-products are processable 3) Cocoon production becomes cheaper even maintaining a very high and distinguishable quality. The problem to solve is to give an additional income to farmers (even acting in marginal areas) by diversifying their crops. The innovative solutions are: to organize the production chain for traceability 2) the useof the silkworm pupa as feed, in addition to the cocoon, 3) the utilization of mechanization processes in sericulture.

Activities

The project activities are various: management, promotion, information and knowledge spreading, innovation brokering (measure 16.1), demonstration of new technologies and organization of agricultural processes (measure 16.2), training and vocational education (measure 1.1.1), farm amelioration (measure RDP 4.4.1). All these activities concern the sericulture chain, from the egg obtainment, to the rearing organization, mechanization of mulberry branch harvesting and cocoon selection, and their outputs will be evaluated as quality of the final cocoon and pupa products (including respect of organic standards and traceability); an overall economic analysis will be established as well. 

Context

The project focuses on the need of updating and rationalizing silkworm cocoon production to reintroduce it in the agricultural practice of our territory; therefore, it aims at demonstrating some innovative technologiesin sericulture, which have been studied by the research center and can betransferred into the field; these, if readily put into practiceby the sericultural farms (which appear to be the end-users)might increase process competitiveness by limiting costs and improving the added value of the final product. The experimental development of the innovations regards the whole sericultural chain: the field phase (mechanized harvesting of mulberry branches and a new mulberry training system to increase the quantity of leaf obtainable per hectare), the rearing phase (organization of silkworm egg production for mechanization and quality, centralization of the early larval instars, machine to cut leaves for the early instars, artificial diet use, mechanized cocoon removal from mountages and deflossing, mechanized cocoon sorting), product promotion (validation of traceability processes, social and environmental sustainability, economical evaluation of the whole production system). The demonstration of the innovation system does not rely on the study of agronomic and economic feasibility only, but it is evaluated as analysis of the quantity and quality of cocoon production, through the tests performed on the fresh cocoon (silk percentage of the cocoon and its commercial grade). Furthermore, the demonstration also encloses the recycling process of the pupa (by-product) to formulate feeds.

Partenariato
Ruolo
Leader
Name
Il brolo società agricola srl
Action manager
Ruolo
Partner
Name
Università degli Studi di Padova - Dipartimento Territorio e Sistemi Agro-forestali
Action manager
Samuele Trestini
@email
Ruolo
Partner
Name
CREA - Unità di ricerca di apicoltura e bachicoltura
Action manager
Silivia Cappellozza
@email
Ruolo
Partner
Name
Agridinamica s.r.l.
Action manager
Emanuela Lapo
@email
Ruolo
Partner
Name
Azienda florovivaistica Bernardo Lino
Action manager
Ruolo
Partner
Name
Cantiere Verde società agricola s.r.l. - Società benefit
Action manager
Angelo Paganin
@email
Ruolo
Partner
Name
CIPAT - Centro di istruzione professionale e assistenza tecnica della Regione Veneto
Action manager
Ruolo
Partner
Name
Miotto Massimo
Action manager
Massimo Miotto
@email
Ruolo
Partner
Name
Trevisan Diego
Action manager
Diego Trevisan
@email
Ruolo
Partner
Name
Veneto Marketing s.r.l.
Action manager
Claudio Gheller
@email
Ruolo
Partner
Name
ICEA - Istituto per la certificazione etica ed ambientale
Action manager
Marinella Mutti
@email
Pratice abstract
Tipologia
May
10
2023
Tipologia