Observation and modeling of climate at fine scales in wine-producing areas

Grape downy mildew, caused by plasmopara viticola, is one of the main diseases affecting viticulture worldwide and its control usually relies on frequent sprays with agrochemicals. Grapevine varieties resistant to p. Viticola represent an effective solution to control downy mildew and reduce the environmental impact of viticulture. Loci of resistance to p. Viticola (Rpv) have been introgressed from wild vitis species and some of them, like Rpv1, Rpv3.1 and Rpv10, are currently the most utilized genetic resources in grape breeding.

AIM: Proanthocyanidins are responsible in an important way for positive aspects in wines, such as body and color stability in red wines, but they are also responsible for sensory characteristics that can be negative for their quality when found in excessive concentrations.

Aim: Among Botryosphaeriaceae species associated with Botryosphaeria dieback of grapevines, Neofusicoccum parvum is one of the most virulent and fastest wood-colonizing fungi. This study aimed to evaluate the susceptibility of six red grapevine cultivars (“Bobal”, “Monastrell”, “Garnacha Tinta”, “Moravia Agria”, “Tinto Velasco” and “Moribel” to N. parvum, under field conditions.

Grape (Vitis vinifera) is one of the world’s oldest agricultural fruit crops, grown for wine, table grape, raisin, and other products. One of the factors that can cause a reduction in the grape growing area is temperature rise due to climate change. Elevated temperature causes changes in grapevine phenology and fruit chemical composition. Previous studies showed that grape varieties respond differently to a temperature shift of 1.5°C; few varieties had difficulties in the fruit development or could not reach the desired Brix level.

Rachis browning is a common abiotic stress that occurs during postharvest storage, leading to a decrease in commercial value of table grapes and resulting in significant economic losses. Its early detection could enable the implementation of preventive strategies. In this report, we show the feasibility of a non-destructive early detection of browning based on Hyper Spectral Imaging (HSI). Furthermore, rachis samples were subjected to transcriptomic analysis to understand putative pathways causing differences in browning within varieties.