How sensor technologies combined with artificial intelligence increase the efficiency in grapevine breeding (research): current developments and future perspectives

For the period of 10 years in the condition of Skopje vineyard area, at two regional (Vranec and Smederevka) and two international (Cabernet sauvignon and Chardonnay) grapevine cultivars, the researches are done.

Today’s viticulture faces a considerable challenge dealing with fungal diseases and limitations on the use of plant protection products (PPP) have increased the pressure to find more sustainable alternatives. One strategy may be the development and cultivation of disease-resistant grapevine varieties (PIWI) that could maintain crop productivity and quality while reducing dependence on PPP. In this work a set of 9 PIWI varieties (5 white and 4 red) deploying genes for resistance to powdery and downy mildew were evaluated in two consecutive years in Valdegón, La Rioja, with Tempranillo and Viura as controls. The objective was to correlate agronomic performance and disease incidence with the presence of disease resistance genes in two different seasons: with (2023) and without disease pressure (2022).

Analysis of phenolic compounds typically involve spectrophotometric methods as well as liquid chromatography combined with DAD, fluorimetric, or MS detection. However, the complexity of wine phenolic composition generated, in recent years, attention towards other analytical approaches, including those allowing rapid and inexpensive operations. Voltametric AIM Oxidation of white wine phenolics occurs at different stages during winemaking and storage and can have important implications for wine sensory quality. Phenolic compounds, in particular those with a ortho-diphenol moiety, are main target of oxidation in wine. Strategies for the methods are particularly suited for the analysis of oxidizable compounds such as phenolics. The redox-active species can be oxidized and reduced at the electrode, therefore, applications of electrochemistry have been developed both to quantify such species, and to probe wine maturation processes.3 The project on the diversity of Italian wines aims at collecting and analysing large-scale compositional dataset related to Italian white wines.

Long-term use of copper fungicides causes increased accumulation of total copper in the surface layer of vineyard soils. Many of authors has researched the anthropogenic influx of copper in such soils, which can result in environmental risks.

During wine aging, several complex phenomena of gas transfer take place in barrels due to the wine/oak contact. The efficiency of this gas transfer varies according to oak wood’s intrinsic physical properties. This research aims to better understand oxygen transfer phenomena through dry oak staves and especially through stave gaps, in order to reevaluate the importance of barrel-making on a barrel’s supply of oxygen. Experimentation was based on the development of an innovative permeameter of laboratory scale, for which the principal operating conditions concerning applied pressure, the choice of liquid phase/gas phase, and the grain type of oak are taken into account and investigated. With a specially developed tightening system, the existing pressure at stave gaps in a barrel could be reproduced on a laboratory scale in order to estimate its influence on oxygen transfer efficiency.