Study of health handling practices of winegrowers, in the department of Sarmiento, San Juan, Argentina

Abstract

During the last ten years, winegrowers in the department of Sarmiento have experienced losses in their productions due to the incidence of two endemic diseases of the vine: downy mildew (Plasmoparaviticola) and powdery mildew (Erysiphenecator). During this period climatic conditions favorable to the development of these diseases occurred, together with susceptible vines to both pathogens caused the development of severe epidemics. In order to control these adversities and mitigate the damage caused, winegrowers employed different handling strategies in their production systems. This work aims to understand the health handling practices that winegrowers carry out in their vineyards. A documentary source analysis and two surveys were achieved during two different grape growing season (2012/2013 – 2015/2016). Then, semi – structured questionnaires were performed to 45 randomly selected cases from 5 towns. The obtained information was analyzed through descriptive statistics. Among the main findings, the winegrowers are aware of the diseases and their damages. In both studied season, 90% of the farms had the diseases. The 30% of the farmers did not employ preventive treatments. The 25% performed applications before the first symptoms, 2% when symptoms were evidenced and 44% in both moments. The most commonly used products were: sulfur, copper oxychloride. The present work allowed to know the practices of sanitary management of the winegrowers, contributing to the development strategies of intervention.