Influence of agronomic practices in soil water content in mid-mountain vineyards

In the actual scenario of climate change, optimization of water usage is becoming critical in sustainable viticulture. Most of the current approaches to assess grapevine water status and drive irrigation scheduling are either destructive, time and labour consuming and monitor a small, limited number of plants. This work presents a novel methodology using a contactless, miniaturized, low-cost NIR spectrometer to monitor the vineyard water status variability from a moving vehicle, to provide reliable information towards precision irrigation.

At CREA – Centro di Ricerca di Viticoltura ed Enologia, based in Velletri (RM), an experimental vineyard including 10 downy mildew resistent/tolerant grape varieties and two susceptible varieties was set up with the principal goal to evaluate the behavoir of these varieties in term of resistance to downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola). This evaluation, together to oenological studies, are necessary to register them also in Regional Register (in Lazio region). Monitoring of behavior towards Plasmopara viticulture of resistant vines were done in 2020 and 2021 at different times (phenological stages) and until harvesting, according to an international standard code BBCH a centesimal phenological scale, based on coding system.

Botrytis cinerea, an Ascomycota pathogen with a broad host range, infects over 1200 plant species. Grapes infected by this pathogen, which subsequently develop a noble rot, remain in the vineyard for an extended period, thus being exposed to a diverse array of physical, chemical and biological factors, which give rise to a complex microbial community.

Actually, many countries around the world are studying different strategies for adapting winegrowing regions to climate changes, focusing on a sustainable viticulture.

Stomata are microscopic pores mainly located in leaf epidermis, allowing gas exchanges between plants and atmosphere. Stomatal initiation relies on the transcription factor SPEECHLESS which is mainly regulated by the MAP kinase cascade, in turn controlled by small signaling peptides, the Epidermal Patterning Factors (EPF and EPF-Like), namely EPF1, EPF2 and EPFL9. While EPF1 and EPF2 induce the inhibition of SPEECHLESS, their antagonist, EPFL9, stabilizes it, leading to stomatal formation. In grapevine, there are two paralogs for EPFL9, VviEPFL9-1 and VviEPFL9-2. Despite their structural similarity, it remains unclear whether they are differentially regulated and have distinct roles.