Emanuele Cerruto

His research activity deals with:

• Research and study regarding operator safety on work places:
  • Chopping and shredding of dead branches (exposure to vibration, noise, flying material);
  • Portable harvesters for drupe harvesting (exposure to vibration, noise);
  • Agricultural activities (exposure to vibration, noise, COV, dust);
  • Harvesting machinery and packaging and transformation centres;
  • Pesticide application (operator’s exposure and environmental pollution).
• Research and study on post-harvest of fruit and vegetables:
  • Study of packing lines of oranges, potatoes, cactus pears, with the IS100 and PMS60 instrumented spheres to measure the impacts received by products;
  • Laboratory study regarding damage caused by repeated impacts on the same area of the surface of oranges and cactus pears.
• Research and study regarding pesticide application:
  • Treatments in citrus groves: study of covered surface and number of stains per square centimetre at varying type of spraying machine and its regulation (volume and airflow rate, forward speed, pulverisation method);
  • Treatments in greenhouses: study of foliar spray deposition, covered surface, stains per square centimetre in tomato crops, according to the type of sprayer (spray gun, portable atomiser, pulsfog, insectojet, kwh, self-propelled sprayer);
  • Treatments in vineyards (espalier and “tendone”): study of the effects on foliar spray deposition of forward speed, air flow rate, volume rate and electrostatic charge.
  • Control and inspection of sprayers: study regarding the possibility of using spray patternators as tools for the preventive calibration of sprayers;
  • Study of prototypes of sprayers able to reduce the environmental impact of pesticides (tunnel sprayer for pesticide application in goblet vineyards) and able to improve the operator safety (self propelled sprayer for pesticide applications in greenhouses);
  • Theoretical study of sprays by means of simulation of water sensitive papers (study of the relationship between spray parameters, superficial coverage and spray deposit);
  • Spray characterisation by means of laboratory measurements using a purposely designed test bench.
• Research and study regarding energy aspects in agro industries:
  • Energetic valorisation of wastes and by-products;
  • Use of digestate in field.

Responsibilities in Research Projects

A speaker at numerous conferences, congresses, and study seminars, he has served as the leader and member of multiple research units in national programs funded by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) on topics such as agricultural machinery safety and pesticide application. He is the co-author of approximately 210 publications, many of which have been presented at national and international conferences and published in specialized journals.

• Leader of the biennial university research project (1998–1999) titled “Performance of sprayers in citrus groves”.
• Leader of Subproject 4 “Influence of mechanical harvesting on olive oil quality”, within the framework of POP 94/99 – Measure 10.4 – Project titled “Modernization and strengthening of olive farming in Eastern Sicily – Characterization and valorization of production”.
• Leader of the biennial university research project (2000–2001) titled “Study of drift in citrus grove treatments”.
• Local Leader of the biennial PRIN 2001 project titled “Improvement of distribution efficiency of sprayers in viticulture”, with the specific research program “Optimization of deposits in treatments in Sicilian vineyards”.
• Leader of the biennial university research project (2002–2003) titled “Study of droplet atomization in vineyard treatments”.
• Local Leader of the biennial PRIN 2003 project titled “Reduction of pollution from pesticides in arboreal crops”, with the specific research program “Optimization of deposits in treatments in trellised vineyards for table grapes”.
• Leader of the university research project (2004–2005) titled “Safety of phytosanitary treatments in greenhouses”.
• Local Leader of the PRIN 2005 project titled “Optimization of deposits in treatments on horticultural crops in Sicilian protected environments”.
• Leader of the university research project (2006–2007) titled “Optimization of lance performance in treatments in protected environments”.
• Leader of the FIR university research project (2014) titled “Development and validation of a methodology for estimating pesticide deposits based on image analysis”.
• Leader of Task T 2.3.3 “Precision agriculture and smart technologies for agrochemical application”, within the PNRR AgriTech project.
• Principal Investigator of the biennial PRIN PNRR 2022 project titled “Implementation of a digital tree to optimize technical and environmental performances of crop protection equipment (IM GROOT)”, funded under MUR Decree No. 1289, dated August 4, 2023.