Improving shelf life of viticulture-relevant biocontrol and biostimulant microbes using CITROFOL® AI as liquid carrier

Botrytis cinerea is a fungus that causes common infection in grapes and other fruits. In winemaking, its presence can be both considered desirable in the case of noble rot infection or undesirable when grey rot is developed. This fungus produces an extracellular enzyme known as laccase which is able to cause oxidation of phenolic compounds present in must and wine, causing most of the times a decrease in its quality and problems during the winemaking process [1]. Material and methods: Three B. cinerea strains (B0510, VA612 and RM344) were selected and grown in a liquid medium adapted from one previously described [2]. The enzyme was isolated by tangential ultrafiltration of the culture medium using a QuixStand system equipped with a 30 KDa filtration membrane.

Grape seeds account for around 5% of the weight of the whole grape berry, representing approximately 40%-50% of the solid by-products that the different wine industries generate during the winemaking process.

In a framework in which climate change is increasingly recognized as a critical global challenge, traditional viticulture must be reconsidered in order to provide better solutions for future needs [1].

Grape Phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae Fitch) ordinarily has great difficulty establishing leaf galls on the European Grapevine (VitisviniferaL.). Yet populations of leaf-feeding Phylloxera are increasingly being observed throughout commercial vineyards world-wide. Effective plant protection strategies including quarantine actions are currently missing to fight, grape phylloxera populations in affected vineyards and combat linked negative effects on vines and yield. Contrary to the otherwise mandatory continuous infestation pressure from externally established populations (e.g. from populations developed on rootstock foliage or other interspecific hybrids, these leaf-feeding populations seem to establish themselves annually.

This work aimed at setting up a multivariate and geostatistical methodology to map natural terroir units of the viticultural areas at the province scale (1:125,000).