Ferdinando Branca

Curriculum updated on the 10th of May 2024

In 1991 was declared Ph doctor on "Crop Productivity" and from 2010 is associated professor of Catania University  where he has studied aspects related to diversification and innovation of vegetable production by studying the variation of plant bio-morphology, primary and secundary methabolites and genetic profiles of landraces and wild relatives, of species widespread in other geographic regions, and of species neglected or underutilized, such as wild species utilized as vegetables. During his PhD studies he pointed particular attention on  “Optimization of protected cultivation by introduction new crops or by modifying some growing techniques” (Eu project EEC 8001-CT90-0015). For several wild species utilized as vegetable in Italy he has individuated diffusion sites, collected and conserved propagation materials, studied biological characteristics of the collected materials and evaluated their adaptability in different environmental conditions in the frame of several research projects. Since 1994 has collected, characterized and evaluated wild and cultivated vegetable species, and in particular Brassicaceaeones. Among them has studied Sicilian germplasm of cauliflower, broccoli, kale and kohlrabi of which has collected, conserved and evaluated several landraces for their main morpho-biological, agronomical, nutraceutical and organoleptic traits, evaluated glucosinolate profiles and adaptability to freezing, individuated resistance sources for Xanthomonas campestrispv campestris, and obtained breeding and androgenic lines. He is coordinator of the H2020 BRESOV (Breeding for Resilient, Efficient and Sustainable Organic Vegetable production) GA n. 774274 and he is an experienced coordinator of international research teams having led and participated pro-actively in different working groups and research projects related to the exploitation of germplasm for the innovation of the vegetable chains.He is  the Italian representative of the Brassica Working Group and member of the Vegetable Network Group of the European Cooperative Program on Genetic Resources (EPCGR) managed by Bioversity International. From 2014 to 2016 he was vice-chair of the Section Vegetables - Roots, Tubers, Edible Bulbs, Brassica and Asparagus of the International Society for Horticultural Sciences (ISHS), and from 2016 to 2018 its chair. From 2018 he is chair of the Organic Vegetable Working Group of the International Society for Horticultural Sciences (ISHS). He is author of more than two hundred scientific papers related to the exploitation of the of wild and cultivated germplasm utilized as vegetable and officinal to qualify and to innovate their production.