Thanks to team work, "artificial" walnut cultivation has reached Portugal. A drone was used to pollinate trees in a three-year-old grove, which therefore had little pollen available.
After tests carried out in Italy last year, the request arrived from a company carrying out a significant investment in walnut cultivation, supported by representative Filipe Sepulveda. Eugenio Cozzolino (agronomist), Paolo Marras (Aermatica3D in Como); Marco Zambelli (Consorzio Agrario in San Giorgio di Piano); Federico Lopez and Emilio Mellado (Nogaltec) all collaborated to the project.
"The automatic pollen distribution kit was designed by Aermatica3D. The drone can cover 10 hectares per hour. CACI from Imola and Vitroplant from Cesena gave their support during the various harvesting, management and pollen certification phases."
Drone pollination has many advantages: speedy distribution times, as it needs less than 10 minutes per hectare, including pollen recharging; effective distribution thanks to adjustable flights; low distribution costs, as artificial pollination produces 40 kg more walnuts per hectare; economic benefits as, in the right conditions, it can lead to returns of a few thousand Euros.
Contacts:
Eugenio Cozzolino
Email: eugeniocozzolino6@gmail.com
Marco Zambelli
Email: mzambelli@caemilia.it
Paolo Marras
Email: paolo.marras@aermatica.com