Plant Medicine (CLM MdP)

MdP Presentation

MdP Video

The Master of Science in Plant Medicine (MdP) provides students with broad expertise and experience across the various disciplines regarding crop management and plant health aiming at forming the fundamental professional figure of Plant Medico. Such a mission is in full agreement with FAO which proposed a new paradigm of intensive crop production, one that is both highly productive and environmentally sustainable), and with the United Nations which declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) (http://www.fao.org).
The Plant Medico integrates all different skills and competences needed for diagnosing and solving plant health problems, apply Good Agricultural Practices and innovative methodologies with the goal of keeping crops and plant products healthy and, thereby, ensuring the safety for the environment, growers and consumers alike, food security, safety and quality, as well as waste reduction, by coupling economics and ethics in a sustainable crop management and protection.
The Master of Science in Plant Medicine provides advanced knowledge and professional abilities suitable for holistic management of Good Agricultural Practices in Mediterranean crops and their produce, including sustainable crop protection, applying innovative environmental-friendly methodologies able to guarantee their safety for grower and consumer health, as well as food safety, security and quality, and waste reduction, combining economical and ethical aspects along the whole chain of production, conservation and commercialization of plant-derived food and no-food products.

Acquired skills and competences

plant harmful associated organisms (pathogens, parasites, weeds), their ecology and bio-ethology, disease aetiology and epidemiology;
abiotic diseases and their control;
identification of plant diseases, parasites, weeds, and associated organisms under field conditions;
methods and technologies available for the diagnosis of biotic and abiotic diseases and the identification of pathogens, parasites, weeds, and associated organisms;
technical tools, natural, synthetic and biological Plant Protection Products (PPPs) used for the integrated and biological protection of plants and their products;
innovative approaches to protection of crops and their produce aimed at improving qualitative, quantitative, hygienic and sanitary aspects of plant-derived food and no-food products;
methods and technologies for the production, preservation and use of sanitarily- and genetically-improved plant propagation materials;
influence of crop management practices and agro-ecosystem components on plant pathogens, parasites, weeds and associated organisms.

Admission requirements

Applicants need a first degree (Bachelor) or a recognized foreign qualification usually equal to a 3-year full-time undergraduate (180 ECTS). Applicants having an Italian first degree in the belonging to the L-25 (including Agricultural Sciences and Technologies and similar, DM 270/04 or equivalent ex. DM 509/99) are directly admitted to the Master of Science in Plant Medicine, in the other cases, the bachelor degree will be subject to ad hoc evaluation by specific Committee. Applicants must possess knowledge and skills expressed in European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) corresponding to:

1. at least 20 ECTS acquired in crop production disciplines and, in particular, in at least three of the following Scientific Disciplinary Sectors (SDFs, according to the Italian university research and teaching system or equivalent):

AGR/02 Agronomy and herbaceous crops;
AGR/03 General arboriculture and fruit trees crops;
AGR/04 Horticulture and floriculture;
AGR/07 Agricultural genetics;

2. at least 15 ECTS acquired in business administration disciplines and, in particular, in at least two of the following SDFs:

AGR/01 Rural economy and estimation;
AGR/09 Agricultural mechanics;
AGR/10 Rural constructions and land agro-forestry;

3. at least 12 ECTS acquired in crop protection disciplines and, in particular, at least in two of the following SDFs:

AGR/11 General and applied entomology;
AGR/12 Plant pathology;

4. at least 12 ECTS acquired in chemistry and biochemistry disciplines and, in particular, at least in two of the following SDFs:

AGR/13 Agricultural chemistry;
AGR/16 Agricultural microbiology.

Positive outcome at the test for personal knowledge assessment is required if the certified degree mark is lower than 90/110 or equivalent.

Syllabus

The planned disciplines concern the following contents:
Experimental Methodology in Agriculture, Agro-meteorology and Principles of Modelling: field and laboratory experiments setting, data collection, processing and statistical interpretation; mechanistic and stochastic modelling for crop and plant diseases and parasites; theoretical and practical aspects of agro-meteorology.
Applied Plant Pathology: aetiology, epidemiology, symptoms, harmfulness and control of the most important biotic (caused by fungi, chromista, prokaryotes, viruses and viroids) and abiotic (nutritional unbalances, environmental stresses, atmospheric pollutants, toxicity of pesticides) diseases of Mediterranean crops and their products.
Agricultural Acarology and Nematology: biology, ecology, ethology, monitoring techniques and management strategies of nematodes, mites as well as their natural enemies related to the main herbaceous, fruit tree and horticultural crops of Mediterranean basin.
Integrated Weed Management: biology, ecology, and methodologies for the control and integrated and eco-sustainable weed management related to the main herbaceous, fruit tree and horticultural crops of Mediterranean basin.
Plant Physiology: function of hormonal pools, signal perception and transduction, physiologic role of macro and micronutrients, plant secondary metabolites as defence systems against pathogens, parasites and abiotic stress.
Plant Physiopathology: cytological, morphological, biochemical, physiological and genetic alterations caused by plant pathogens, plant-pathogen interactions, in order to prevent or control the diseases, bacterial or fungal biomolecules as a substitution of PPPs achieved by organic synthesis.
Agricultural Entomology: morphology, bio-ethology, monitoring techniques and control methods of harmful insects and phytophagous species related to the most representative agricultural plants of the Mediterranean Region as well as their natural enemies.
Urban Entomology: morphology, bio-ethology, monitoring techniques and control methods of harmful insects, phytophagous species and natural enemies related to the most representative urban plants of the Mediterranean Region.
Fruit Tree Crops: economic importance and diffusion, floral and fructification biology, pedoclimatic requirements, set up, tree and soil management, ripening, harvesting and conservation techniques of the most important temperate fruit tree species.
Horticulture and Floriculture: propagation and cultivation of most important commercially used horto-floricultural species, with particular care to the systems and techniques able to optimize the propagation and production according to the plant biology and physiology, agro-environmental characters.
Applied Diagnostics and Phytopathological Biotechnologies: biological, biochemical, serological and molecular methodologies for the diagnosis of plant pathogens, as well as the elements regarding the resistance to diseases and the application of biotechnologies for plant healing from infectious agents.
Plant Breeding: origin and evolution of plant genetic resources, Centres of Origin of cultivated species, collection building, preservation and improvement of the germplasm; genetic structure of cultivated species with special reference to the physiological and genetic bases of plant resistance to diseases; traditional and innovative methods of breeding of agricultural species.
Genetic Resistance to Plant Diseases: physiological and genetic basis of plant resistance to diseases, methods of breeding for resistance and managing resistance genes, resistance to diseases of plant germplasm and cultivars of the most representative agricultural plants of the Mediterranean Region.
Engines for Applications of Plant Protection Products: requirements and machineries for PPPs distribution under various formulas, machineries for the treatment of covered crops.
Structures and Equipment for Protected Crops: construction methodologies and materials for planning the facilities for greenhouses; choice, dimensioning, microclimate optimization and management costs reduction of climate conditioning system for greenhouses.
Chemistry and Biochemistry of Plant Protection Products: regulation, mechanisms of action and metabolism into the plants of the main PPPs used in agriculture, the fate of PPPs in the environment, the assessment risk of the environmental contamination and principles of chemical analysis of the residues; the correct use of PPPs for the safeguard of environment, workers and consumers.
Biological and Integrated Protection from Plant Diseases: integrated crop protection from diseases, control tools (legislative, agronomic, physical, genetic, biological and chemical), legislation on plant protection products, and their sustainable usage, the main characteristics and mode of action of most important fungicides, prevention and management of fungicide resistance, integrated protection from diseases of main Mediterranean crops.
Quality Certification Systems: the quality certification as a competitive tool and the main certification standards applied to plant-derived food and plant propagation materials.
Phytosanitary Laws: quarantine and international organizations working in plant protection; regulations for marketing plant propagation materials; phytosanitary certification of nursery products.

Admission request form

Academic calendar, A.Y. 2022-2023

Plan of study (full-time students) / Plan of study (part-time students)

Teaching programs

Exams timetable

Contact person:

prof. Francesco Faretra (course coordinator)
prof. Enrico de Lillo (coordinator of the internationalization TEMPUS project)
prof. Ippolito Antonio (responsible for incoming international students)