Development of an a priori zoning of physiological behavior units of vines, using precision viticulture techniques

Abstract

The systemic analysis of the performance of a vineyard at the scale of a wine-making exploitation is made possible by the use of sensors stemming from so called precision techniques, which allow precise and exhaustive geo-located measures. The aim of our study is to exploit this kind of data and evaluate their information using geographical information systems (GIS) and crossing different layers representing characteristic and independent variables of the production system. The goal is then to elaborate an a priori zoning, likely to explain variations of the physiological development of vines and possible differences of the plants susceptibility to fungus diseases. The study is based on the combination of two maps established on the property of Chateau Léoville Las Cases in the Medoc area of the Bordeaux vineyard (France). These maps represent the behavior of the two compartments, soil and plant, respectively determined by means of electric resistivity (R) and biomass index (B) measures. Three levels – low, medium, high- are defined for each type of data. The combination of these indicators allows the elaboration of 9 classes of islets, named Physiological Behavior Units (PBU), whose distribution is bounded by the GIS on the whole vineyard. Six of these nine PBU were selected by exclusion of the medium class of the biomass index. Each PBU is replicated twice, thus establishing an observation device of 12 PBU likely to identify differences in terms of physiological development and disease susceptibility. For this purpose, treated and non-treated zones were delimited for each PBU, and a weekly monitoring of these areas has been performed during the 2014 crop year. The first year’s results of the study show that the PBU concept proposed seem to correlate with some of the significant variations observed for physiological and sanitary criterions.