Preliminary results of Moringa oleifera Lam. grown in a semi-arid Mediterranean environment in a climate change scenario

Giulia Salsi^1,2Carlo Greco^1,3*Vito Armando Laudicina^1,4Caterina Lucia¹Sofia Maria Muscarella¹Giuseppe Greco¹SANTO ORLANDO¹Giancarlo Fascella⁵Michele Massimo Mammano⁵

• ¹Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Sciences, University of Palermo, Palermo, Sicily, Italy
• ²University School for Advanced Studies, University Institute of Higher Studies in Pavia, Pavia, Lombardy, Italy
• ³University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
• ⁴National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Sicily, Italy
• ⁵CREA, Research Centre for Plant Protection and Certification, Palermo, Italy

Climate change is largely driven by greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in rising atmospheric temperatures and alteration of precipitation patterns. In Mediterranean regions, there is an urgent need for adaptation strategies, such as incorporating new low-input species and superfoods into cropping systems. . Moringa oleifera Lam. is a tree endemic to north-west India, known to survive in harsh conditions of tropical, subtropical, and arid areas. Moringa is considered a key candidate for its versatility, rapid growth, excellent adaptability to unfavorable climatic conditions, and for being a source of essential nutrients. Moringa's high adaptability and its many benefits, including nutritional, agricultural, medicinal, and environmental, make it particularly valuable in coping with changing weather conditions. In recent years, Moringa cultivation has increasingly focused on leaf production. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different planting methods and spacing on the leaf yield and nutrient composition of M. oleifera grown in Sicily (south Italy), a semiarid Mediterranean environment. The experiment was conducted over two consecutive years (2021 and 2022). In 2021 four plots were set to test the effect of planting mode (S, seeding; T, transplanting) and distance (50 and 100 cm) on plant growth and leaf nutrients content. In 2022, based on results obtained in 2021, two plots were set to assess the effect of planting distance (50 and 100 cm). Results showed transplanted plants grown better than the sowed ones. Indeed, transplanted plants showed higher values of plant height compared to the sowed ones, and a leaf biomass production of 15 kg ha-1 in T50 treatment. Total nitrogen showed the highest values in T50, reaching 27 kg ha-1 in 2021 and 125 kg ha-1 in 2022. T50 also resulted in the highest total phosphorus content, and similar trends were observed for Ca, K, and Mg.