Bread, pasta, and cookies are “healthier” thanks to MASTER, a project focused on improving soil fertility and biofortification of cereals, led by the Sant'Anna School and the University of Cagliari
On October 10, in Cagliari, the final conference will be held to present the results, with a presentation by Elisa Pellegrino, researcher at the Institute of Plant Production of the Sant'Anna School
Not just wheat, but wheat that is good for you. On October 10, 2025, a conference in Cagliari will mark the end of MASTER – Improving soil fertility and biofortification of cereals, a research project funded by the Sardinia RDP 2014-2020 and the result of collaboration between the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa and the University of Cagliari. The research has produced significant results in both agricultural and nutritional terms, demonstrating that it is possible to improve Sardinian cereals by making them more productive, sustainable, and rich in beneficial nutrients.
The final conference will be an opportunity to present the results achieved with presentations by, among others, Elisa Pellegrino, researcher in Agronomy and Herbaceous Crops at the Institute of Crop Science of the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Cinzia Balestrieri from the University of Cagliari, an expert in non-alcoholic steatosis, Emanuele Gosamo, an agronomist specializing in remote sensing techniques, Enrico Lepori, President of Sinis Agricola (Cabras, Oristano), and representatives from five farms in the Sardinia region, from north to south.
Innovative agriculture that combines health, sustainability, and the promotion of local products
Field trials conducted on four farms in Sardinia have shown that the inoculation of beneficial microorganisms and biofortification with selenium lead to a significant increase in yields of durum and soft wheat, with improvements of up to almost double compared to controls in some varieties. The project has reached a new milestone by integrating agronomic experimentation with multispectral models calibrated on field data, capable of predicting cereal yields and quality in conditions with and without the application of microbial biostimulants based on symbiotic bacteria and fungi. Simulations and experimental data indicate that the use of beneficial microorganisms (symbiotic bacteria and fungi) can lead to significant increases compared to control plots, with positive variations also in the efficiency of nutrient use. A further line of research concerned the soil and root microbiome: the results show that the diversity and presence of ‘key’ microorganisms increase wheat's resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses. This opens up new perspectives for the long-term sustainable management of agricultural soils. From a qualitative point of view, the flours obtained in the MASTER project have an enriched content of antioxidant compounds and essential micronutrients. These cereals have been transformed into typical products, such as carasau bread, pasta (malloreddus), and biscuits, which have shown an increase in selenium content and enhanced nutritional properties. Some of the products were used in a recently completed clinical protocol aimed at evaluating their effectiveness as nutritional support in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Initial findings confirm the potential positive impact of these functional foods on public health. The results obtained demonstrate how scientific innovation and agri-food tradition can be integrated to promote more sustainable agriculture and contribute to the prevention of chronic diseases through diet.
