Climate variability and its effects in the Penedès vineyard region (NE Spain)

During postharvest management, the metabolism of fruits remains active and continuous physico-chemical changes occur. Ozone treatment has an elicitor effect on secondary metabolites and the treatment conditions can influence the grape response to the stress (Bellincontro et al., 2017; Botondi et al., 2015). Regarding volatile organic compounds (VOCs), previous studies showed that ozone treatment during postharvest dehydration induces the biosynthesis of terpenes in Moscato bianco grapes (Río Segade et al., 2017). It is well known that grape VOCs greatly influence the organoleptic properties of wines, particularly terpenes in aromatic varieties.

The Portuguese wine production is characterized by wide yield fluctuations, causing considerable implications in the economic performance of this sector. The possibility of predicting the yield in advance is crucial as it enables preliminary planning and management of the available resources. The present work aims to study and evaluate two different techniques for the assessment of vine fertility. vineyards.

Le concept AOC permet, par une délimitation précise, la mise en valeur de terroirs particulièrement adaptés à la viticulture. Seuls les terroirs ainsi identifiés peuvent produire des vins portant le nom de l’AOC. Le nom de cette AOC ne peut être utilisé que pour des vins issus de terroirs compris dans l’aire d’appellation, sous peine de sanctions pénales. La délimitation ainsi opérée participe à la protection du nom de l’AOC. A l’inverse, le terroir délimité n’est pas protégé.

From Porto and then through Bordeaux, Champagne and Bourgogne, wine geographical indications (gi) were the driving models for this form of protection of distinctive signs for collective use. Many studies present the benefits of recognizing a gi for a given region, the challenges of its implementation, as well as the possibilities of promoting territorial development.

“Flavescence dorée” (FD) is a grapevine quarantine disease associated with phytoplasmas and transmitted to healthy plants by insect vectors, mainly Scaphoideus titanus. Infected plants usually develop symptoms of stunted growth, unripe cane wood, leaf rolling, leaf yellowing or reddening, and shrivelled berries. Since plants can remain symptomless up to four years, they may act as reservoirs of FD contributing to the spread of the disease. So far, conventional management strategies rely mainly on the insecticide treatments, uprooting of infected plants and use of phytoplasma-free propagation material. However, these strategies are costly and could have undesirable environmental impacts. Thus, the development of sustainable and noninvasive approaches for early detection of FD and its management are of great importance to reduce disease spread and select the best cultural practices and treatments. The present study aimed to evaluate if multispectral/hyperspectral technologies can be used to detect FD before the appearance of the first symptoms and if infected grapevines display a spectral imaging fingerprint. To that end, physiological parameters (leaf area, chlorophyll content and photosynthetic rate) were collected in concomitance to the measurements of plant reflectance (using both a portable apparatus and a remote sensing drone). Measurements were performed in two leaves of 8 healthy and 8 FD-infected grapevines, at four timepoints: before the development of disease symptoms (21st June); and after symptoms appearance (ii) at veraison (2nd August); at post-veraison (11th September); and at harvest (25th September). At all timepoints, FD infected plants revealed a significant decrease in the studied physiological parameters, with a positive correlation with drone imaging data and portable apparatus analyses. Moreover, spectra of either drone imaging and portable apparatus showed clear differences between healthy and FD-infected grapevines, validating multispectral/ hyperspectral technology as a potential tool for the early detection of FD or other grapevine-associated diseases.