Plant Biochemistry and Physiology

The course will provide students the basic
knowledge of the fundamental biochemical and
physiological processes of plants, with the general
objective of understanding mechanisms most
involved in the determination of crop plant yield,
also in unfavorable environments. The course also
proposes to provide the fundamental notions
concerning Agro-Ecological Microbiology and
basic microbiological techniques for the analysis of
environmental and food samples. These skills will
be acquired both through lectures and classroom
exercises concerning the resolution of biochemistry
problems, and through laboratory exercises related
to microbiological analyses aimed at defining the
quality of agricultural-food products.

Knowledge of the mechanisms regulating energy transfer and carbon metabolism in plants. Knowledge of the biochemical and physiological factors determining the productivity of crop plants, also in unfavourable environments. At the end of the course the gained knowledge will be useful to face practical issues in agricultural contexts, using also the augmented critical and judgment skills. Attending to classroom and lab practices, together with the type of assessment that foresees answering to one open question dealing with the main topic among those dealt with during the course, will contribute to the development of communication skills. Moreover, the use of diversified tools (textbooks, on-line material made available by the Teacher, personal notes, Internet) for the study will contribute to develop the ability to independently retrieve information useful also for future job activities.