Antonio Ferrante
Institute of Crop Science, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies of Pisa
The quality of horticultural crops is determined by the complex interaction among genotype, environmental conditions, and agronomuic management practices. When plants are exposed to sub-optimal environmental conditions during growth, they often experience abiotic stresses, such as drought, salinity, temperature extremes, and nutrient imbalances, which typically impair crop performance, leading to reductions in yield and quality. However, abiotic stress does not exclusively exert negative effects. Plants respond to these adverse conditions through a wide range of physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms aimed at enhancing stress tolerance. Notably, abiotic stress can act as a powerful elicitor of secondary metabolism, stimulating the biosynthesis and accumulation of numerous bioactive compounds. These metabolites not only contribute to plant adaptation and survival under stress conditions but also hold significant value for human health due to their antioxidant and nutraceutical properties. In recent years, consumer preferences have shifted toward low calorie, low-fat foods enriched with health-promoting compounds. As a result, there is increasing interest in fruits and vegetables as major dietary sources of bioactive molecules. These compounds, including phenolics, flavonoids, vitamins, and other antioxidants, contribute significantly to the nutraceutical quality of plant-derived foods. In this context, a deeper understanding of how plants respond to abiotic stress and how these stresses influence the synthesis and accumulation of bioactive compounds is essential. From an agronomic perspective, the strategic application of controlled abiotic stress has emerged as a promising tool to enhance the nutritional and functional quality of horticultural products.
In this seminar, impact of abiotic stressors on the quality of fruits and vegetables, with particular emphasis on their role in modulating nutritional attributes will be reported.
Pequena nota biográfica:
Antonio Ferrante is Full Professor of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops at the Institute of Crop Science of the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (SSSA), Pisa. He earned his degree in Agricultural Sciences with honors from the University of Pisa in 1992 and subsequently pursued his doctoral studies at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, where he obtained a PhD in 2001.
During his early career, he undertook several research periods abroad, including a one-year fellowship at the University of California, Davis (USA) in 2000. He began his academic career at the University of Milan, where he served as a university researcher until 2016, became an Associate Professor in 2021, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2022, a position he held until 2024. In 2024, he joined the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, where he has served as Vice-Director of the Institute of Crop Science since the same year. Since 2022, he has been President of the Italian Society for Horticultural Science (SOI). He has been a member of the Agricultural Society of Lombardy since 2018 and was appointed Academic Member of the Accademia dei Georgofili of Florence in 2017.
His research focuses on postharvest science, non-destructive sensing technologies applied to vegetable cropping systems, and the use of biostimulants to mitigate abiotic stresses. He is the author or co-author of more than 200 scientific and technical publications indexed in international databases.
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