Board of Editors

Dr. Boris Basile is Associate Professor of Viticulture at the Department of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Naples Federico II since 2015. Between 2004 and 2015, he was Assistant Professor at the same University. In 2002, he earned a Ph.D. in Fruit Tree Management and Ecophysiology (University of Naples Federico II). His research activity focuses on the applied environmental physiology of grapevine and temperate fruit trees. He has studied different aspects of plant physiology such as water relations, light relations, gas-exchange, source-sink relationships, organ growth, and phenology. The aim of his research is defining innovative vineyard or orchard management practices to improve yield quantitatively and qualitatively. The main studied species are grapevine, peach and kiwifruit.

Dr. Carlo Andreotti is Associate Professor at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, where he teaches several courses at bachelor and master level in the area of fruit production and orchard/vineyard management. He holds a PhD in ‘Fruit Tree, Forestry and Ornamental Agro-Ecosystems’ (University of Bologna, 2002). Before moving to the Bolzano University, he was Post-Doc fellow at the University of Bologna for 5 years and researcher at the Italian Council for Research in Agriculture for one year. His studies focused on fruit crops and the evaluation of sustainable management techniques in orchards and vineyards, including their effects on fruit quality. Prof. Andreotti expertizes are in the field of the phenolic compounds biosynthesis and accumulation in fruit trees, the sustainable use of water resources in vineyard, the use of biostimulants to enhance sustainability of horticultural systems and quality of the final products.

Assistant Professor at UPORTO/FCUP, being also responsible for several R&D and Education Management functions including Vice-Director of the Associate Laboratory ‘Inov4Agro - Institute for innovation, capacity building and sustainability of agri-food production’ and Vice-Director of ‘GreenUPorto – Sustainable Agrifood Production Research Centre’. She holds a PhD degree in ‘Production Ecology and Resources Conservation’ (Wageningen University; 2003). During the past 20 years, her research has been mostly focused on the enhancement of resources use efficiency, particularly in terms of water, nutrients and phytopharmaceutical products, using several agronomic and biotechnological tools mostly applied to horticultural crops. To date Dr. Carvalho is author of more than 130 articles in ISI-journals, book chapters and technical magazines (H-index 20) and coordinated 13 R&D international and national projects with competitive funding. Since 2015 she is Associate Editor of ‘Frontiers in Plant Science’.

BSc in Agricultural Sciences (University of Naples Federico II); MSc in Plant Biotechnology (University of Naples Federico II); PhD in Biology (University of Leeds, UK). Scopus ID 7006502116. Currently Associate Professor (Plant Genetics) at Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II. I am a plant molecular geneticist working on vegetable crops and fruit trees. My scientific interest focuses on the study of genetic, genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic variations in plants, mainly regarding their adaptive role in farmed landscape and their function in the response to environmental factors. My expertise also includes the identification, development, and application of diagnostic nucleic acid-based (bio)markers for agri-genomics and the molecular traceability in agri-food chains. Associate Editor of BMC Genomics. Member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Plant Genomics. Special-Guest Editor for the journals Diversity and Genes.

BSc in Biochemistry (University of London UCL, 1983); PhD on the molecular nature of cytoplasmically inherited disease factors in Ophiostoma ulmi (University of London, Imperial College, 1987). Her postdoctoral work was on gene expression during pollen development at the Plant Breeding Insititute, Cambridge and Royal Holloway, University of London. Since 1995 she has developed a group at Cardiff University working on plant senescence, stress, cell death and post-harvest biology, with a particular interest in flower senescence. She has addressed these questions using Arabidopsis mutants and transgenics, transcriptomics and most recently the use of volatile organic compounds as markers for quality and safety of fresh produce. She has also collaborated on projects related to plant cell division and interactions in wood decay fungi. She is currently a handling editor for Annals of Botany and on the Board of Reviewers for Journal of Experimental Botany.

Dr. Danilo Aros is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Chile (Santiago, Chile) since 2018. He finished his undergraduate studies in Agricultural Sciences at the same University in 2005 and then he obtained a Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology at the School of Biosciences, Cardiff University (Cardiff, Wales). His research is focused on Plant Biotechnology and Breeding, with emphasis in ornamental plants. The main aim of his research is to study the propagation, characterization and breeding of native plants with ornamental value. This research has been supported by studies on in vitro propagation; morphological, molecular, sensorial and chemical characterization (focused on flower colour and scent); and application of breeding techniques including mutagenesis and interspecific hybridization by embryo rescue.

Giovanni Caruso is Senior Researcher at the Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences of the University of Pisa where he teaches courses on olive growing and viticulture. He is member of the Editorial Board of Agronomy and the Coordinator of the working group “Olive and Oil” of the Italian Society of Horticultural Science (SOI). In 2016 he has been awarded the prize “Premio di studio Claudio Vitagliano”. In 2020 he has been awarded the prizes “Premio Antico Fattore 2020” (Accademia dei Georgofili) and “EVOO research got talent 2020”. His research activity focuses on the physiology of fruit trees and orchard management, with particular emphasis on olive and grapevine. Specific research topics are: irrigation, tree physiology, soil management, and oil/wine quality. Recent works include the use of unmanned aerial vehicle for the estimation of the biophysical and geometric parameters in orchards and vineyards.

Giancarlo Colelli is a Professor of “Equipments for postharvest handling” at the University of Foggia, Italy, where he also chairs the Doctorate Program on “Innovation Management in Agricultural and Food Systems of the Mediterranean Region”. Main R&D activities primarily deal with process implications on quality of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables and non-destructive technology for assessment of quality attributes. Together with other colleagues he has organized all the editions of the “European Short-course on Quality & Safety of Fresh-cut Produce” (in Italy, Spain, Germany, Turkey, and UK). As principal investigator he has coordinated more than 20 national and International R&D programs; he is presently the scientific coordinator of QUAFETY, funded by the European Commission (7th Framework Program) with 14 partners from 7 Countries . He is author of more than 180 scientific publications in refereed journals, book chapters and technical magazines. Member of Postharvest Biology and Technology editorial board. Scientific expertise: process implications on quality of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables; non-destructive technology for assessment of quality attributes in fresh fruits and vegetables; low impact technologies to extend the shelf-life of fresh fruits and vegetables; design of novel fresh-cut products;optimization of existing process/technologies for fresh-cut produce.

Teaching activity at the University of Tuscia: "Vegetable cropping systems", "Floriculture", "Protected Cultivation", "Soilless culture". Coordinator and principal investigator in many research projects on horticultural crops funded by Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, Italian Ministry of Education, Ateneo Italo-Tedesco, Italian Space Agency, Private Companies, European Union, etc. Coordinator of the COST Action FA1204 ‘Vegetable Grafting to Improve Yield and Fruit Quality under Biotic and Abiotic Stress Conditions’. Scientific expertise: greenhouse crops; vegetable grafting; plant nutrition; biostimulants.

Doctorate in Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, research the impact of biotic/abiotic stress on plant physiology, particularly on Mediterranean crops. Is researcher in the Agronomy Department working in plant physiology/biochemistry and oxidative stress. The aim of her research is to increase crops yield, quality and sustainability. Complementarily, she studies new adaptation/mitigation strategies in the context of climate change scenarios. For these goals, she works in field instrumentation for monitoring the photosynthetic behavior, plant water relations, growth analysis and in the laboratory evaluating metabolomic and oxidative stress analysis. She is part of the many projects team, author/co-author of several scientific articles published in international journals and book chapters. She is advisor/co-supervisor of many thesis and has participated as a reviewer of almost fifty scientific articles for publication in international journals. She worked with international teams such as in Italy, Spain and Brasil.

Alessio Fini is associate professor of Arboriculture at the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences – Production, Landscape, Bioenergy of the University of Milan. Member of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) and from 2010 to 2016 he was the representative for Europe in the ISA Membership Committee. Awarded with the Early Career Scientist Award by the International Society of Arboriculture. Member of the executive committee of the Arboricultural Research and Education Academy. Associate editor of Urban Forestrty and Urban Greening and editor of the Routledge Handbook of Urban Forestry. Author of more than 120 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, conference proceedings, and national journals.

Dr. Matteo Gatti is Associate Professor at the Department of Sustainable Crop Production of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Piacenza (UCSC) since 2016. In 2012, he earned a PhD in Agricultural Sciences (Université d’Angers, France). Invited research fellow at the University of Auckland (2013-2014) and Visiting Professor at the Southwest University of Chongqing, China (2019). Lecturer in academic programs at UCSC since 2012. His research activity is focused on applied grapevine ecophysiology. He has studied different aspects of grapevine physiology including source-sink balance, plant growth and phenology, leaf gas-exchange, water relations, mineral nutrition, and fruit ripening. His research activity aims at developing novel solutions for sustainable vineyard management under a new climatic context as well as promoting digitalization in viticulture by developing innovative precision viticulture protocols and robotic solutions.

Dr Giovanna Giacalone is an Associate Professor at the University of Turin, Department of DISAFA, where she teaches several courses in fruit production and post-harvest management. From 2001 to 2021, she was Assistant Professor at the same University. In 1996, she obtained a PhD in Fruit Tree Management (University of Turin). Her main research interests focus on the quality of pome, stone and berry fruit in relation to cultural techniques; post-harvest management, quality, handling and storage of fresh and fresh-cut fruit. The research, whether in the field or post-harvest, is always aimed at improving organoleptic and nutraceutical characteristics and reducing wastage.

Principal scientist and team leader of the rangeland ecology and management at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). Dr Louhaichi has a proven track record of more than 25 years in terrestrial ecological restoration and landscape ecology. He has a solid background in assessing and monitoring rangeland health using advanced geospatial tools. He has authored and co-authored more than 150 scientific and technical publications including peer reviewed papers, conference proceedings, training manuals and copyrighted / patented scientific software and hardware. In November 2013, he was nominated as the ICARDA focal point for the FAO-ICARDA cactus network. In January 1st 2015, he was named courtesy faculty member in the Department of Animal and Rangeland Sciences at Oregon State University (OSU-USA) and in July 2016 he was elected vice president of the International Rangeland Congress.

Dr. Rosario Mauro is researcher at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment of the University of Catania (Research Unit of Vegetable and Flower Crops) since 2018. In 2007 he earned a Ph.D. in "Productivity of cultivated plants" (University of Catania). In 2012 he obtained the 2nd level master degree in "Integrated management of quality and safety in the agri-food supply chains", at the University of Catania. His research activity has been primarily focused on agronomic and qualitative aspects of vegetable crops both in greenhouse and open field conditions. Aspects concerning the ecophysiology and breeding of cover crops and vegetables (mainly globe artichoke) were also investigated. The main studied species are globe artichoke and tomato.

George Manganaris is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology & Food Science at Cyprus University of Technology. His main scientific interests includes the quality evaluation of horticultural products with the employment of physiological, biochemical and molecular approaches, the elucidation of fruit ripening syndrome with emphasis in the development of physiological disorders and overall the postharvest maintenance of fresh produce. To date, Dr. Manganaris is the author of 50 scientific papers (2060 citations, h-index=24). Data from his work have also been presented in review papers (4), book chapters (11) and full texts in Conference proceedings (10). Dr. Manganaris is Associate Editor/Editorial board member in the Postharvest Biology and Technology, BMC Plant Biology, Journal of Horticultural Science & Biotechnology. He is Council Member of the International Society for Horticultural Science and is board member of European Fruit Research Institute Network.

Brunella Morandi is associate Professor and tree ecophysiology lecturer at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences of the University of Bologna. PhD in fruit orchard management (since 2006) and M. Sci. in Agricultural Sciences and technologies (since 2002), she is author of more than 50 publications in international referenced journals (Scopus) and of more than 40 in professional journals. Chair of the EUFRIN Working Group on “Water Relations and Irrigation” and member of the EIP-Agri Focus Group on “Water & Agriculture”. Her research focuses on the plant-environment relationships, focusing on crops such as cherry, kiwifruit, apple, peach and pear, with the aim to develop new strategies to improve water use efficiency, while maintaining production quality and yields, in conditions of water scarcity and climate change.

Stefano Musacchi is a Professor and Endowed chair of Tree Fruit Physiology and Management at the Department of Horticulture at Washington State University, USA. He received his MS degree in Horticulture in 1990 and his PhD degree in Pomology in 1996 from the University of Bologna, Italy. From 2000 to 2013 he was an Assistant Professor at the University of Bologna where he led the pear breeding program and patented four new pear cultivars. He joined Washington State University in 2013 as an Associate Professor and was promoted to full Professor in 2018. His research program is aimed at developing advanced orchard management practices to improve yield, fruit quality and profitability of apple, pear and cherry. His areas of specialization are orchard planting systems, rootstocks, pruning and training, pollination, precision crop load management, netting and light interception. He has published 170 scientific publications (79 peer-reviewed in English), given 172 presentations at scientific conferences (89 international and 83 in the USA), and has disseminated his expertise in fruit production in 26 countries.

Dr. Youssef Rouphael was awarded a Diploma in Agriculture, a Master in Irrigation and PhD in Horticulture from Tuscia University (Italy). He was then a Post-Doc fellow at the same University for 5 years. Later Youssef Rouphael was Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Veterinary Medicine (Lebanese University); and finally has been since 2014 affiliated at the Department of Agricultural Sciences, University Federico II Naples (Italy), where he is currently Associate Professor at the University of Naples. Prof. Rouphael specializes in greenhouse crops with emphasis on improvement of fruit quality of vegetable crops through pre-harvest factors, plant nutrition, water and irrigation management, soilless production of vegetables and ornamentals, role of grafting, beneficial micro-organisms, plants biostimulants in horticultural plants and novel specialty crops such as microgreens and edible flowers.

Francesco Serio is researcher at the Institute of Sciences of Food Production of the National Research Council (CNR-ISPA, Bari, Italy). His studies are focused on greenhouse vegetable crops with a specific interest on the effects of cropping systems (both soil-bound and soilless) on product quality. Most of his research activity is carried out at the Experimental Farm “La Noria”, an experimental station in the availability of CNR-ISPA specifically equipped for greenhouse studies in Mediterranean conditions. Scientific expertise: assessment and improvement of vegetables quality traits; cultivation strategies aimed to produce high nutritional value vegetables; biofortification of vegetables; greenhouse production; improvement of resources use efficiency in greenhouse horticulture; photovoltaic greenhouses; agrobiodiversity of vegetables.

Dr. Giuseppe Sortino was awarded a Diploma in Agriculture, a Master in Quality Management, a Master in Certification and safety of the Agri-food System, and PhD in Horticulture. He was then post-doc fellow for 11 years. He was contract professor of Sensory analysis for horticultural products. Currently he is Researcher in Horticulture at the Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences of the Università degli Studi di Palermo. He is author of more than 90 scientific publications in international peer-reviewed journals, university book chapters, conference proceedings, and technical journals. He joins the Editorial Board of 10 scientific journals (ISI WOS and SCOPUS indexed) as associate (2) or board member (8) for the topics orchard management, postharvest physiology and technology of fruit, sensory evaluation, quality evaluation and composition of fruit produce.

Prof. Yuksel Tuzel graduated from Ege University in 1981 with a MSc degree and received her PhD in Protected Cultivation in 1989. Between 1983 and 1984 she was employed by the Ministry of Agriculture, and Forestry and then received a position as a research assistant at the Agricultural Faculty of Ege University. She received her associate professorship in 1992 and full professorship in 1998. Since then she has been working at the Horticulture Department of the Agricultural Faculty of Ege University as a full professor. She is the author of over 200 scientific articles (SCI journals, national refereed journals, international and national symposia, books and chapters). She was involved in two regional FAO working groups on Greenhouse Crop Production in the Mediterranean (1997-2003) and South Eastern Europe (2000-2008) and coordinated two FAO Regional Workshops. She is the ISHS President since 2018. Her expertise is vegetable production technologies in greenhouses. She has worked in soilless culture systems, irrigation and fertilization management, abiotic stress response and grafting. In 2000 she started to work also on organic greenhouse vegetable production.

Dr. Viktorija Vaštakaite-Kairiene is a senior researcher at the Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry and Nature Research Centre. She holds a position of a young academic at the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. The main research areas are photophysiology, plant stress physiology, biochemistry. Specific research aspects are to evaluate the effects of electric lighting parameters (spectrum, photon flux density, etc.) on photosynthesis, photomorphogenesis, and metabolism of horticultural plants. The obtained results are used in the development of plant lighting technologies in controlled environment agriculture to increase the yield and quality, including nutritional, of vegetables all year round. She participates in high-level R&D projects financed by the EU funds, and activities of international EPSO, ISHS, ASHS societies.