How irrigation ozone treatment can protect basil

The use of ozone as an irrigation water treatment and the resulting benefits to crops are now countless, and in the world of hydroponics, the effectiveness of the technology has been well established for years. But few are willing to bet on the results in open field applications. In particular, there have been a number of successful examples of basil cultivation that have been replicas of the results seen in greenhouses.

Ecofarm, the Verona-based company that has been developing applications with ozone machines for irrigation water treatment for years, together with the farm La Felina of Bonati Giuseppe, has applied this technology in open fields, directly on the irrigation system, with very interesting results.

We have been using ozone treatments for basil cultivation for several years, but this year, in partnership with Ecofarm, we applied the water treatment system directly to the irrigation system, with very encouraging results," says Alessia Bonati of La Felina farm.

The La Felina farm has been growing basil on its land in the plains of the province of Parma for more than thirty years. It has a great deal of experience in the field. The results of this year's harvest have been a confirmation to the owners that this is the right way forward.

"We minimized treatments to defend against downy mildew, which was a problem last year, especially in July, but most importantly we protected the crop from a major hailstorm. The resilience of the plants and the health of the crop have led us to consider the extension of the treatment to all our crops.

The results will be presented in a workshop to be held on Thursday, 25 January 2024, at 15:30 during the Orticultura Tecnica in Campo event in Guidizzolo (MN, Italy). The results of the university research will also be presented at the same workshop and will be a further confirmation of the experiences of the farmers who have been using this technology in their farms for some time now.