*2.1. Study Area*

The study was carried out in 2019 in a rice-cultivated area at the Cascina Scalina farm, located in Garlasco (Pavia, Lombardy region, Italy) (45◦19 N, 08◦89 E, altitude ca. 43 m a.s.l.) within the rice crop district of Lomellina. The farm property consists of 227 hectares, distributed in 127 ha for maize and 100 ha for rice cultivation. This area is characterized by a high level of field fragmentation (55 rice field of variable surfaces) and an extensive network of canals for irrigation.

The local climate is humid subtropical (Cfa) according to the Köppen climate classification [14], with an average temperature of 21 ◦C and a cumulative rainfall depth of approximately 298 mm during the agricultural season (Data for April-September of 2014–2019, ARPA Lombardy—http://www.arpalombardia.it). The study area was classified as the Luvisol-Cambisol Region with Gleysols, developed on Alpine sediments that have been deposited north of the Po river [15]. The soils are coarsely textured (sand > 80%), with a pH from sub-acidic to neutral and a low retention capacity [11].
