The combination of a non-parametric dissimilarity index with auger boring recordings was tested in a project of soil suitability evaluation for quality wine production in a 2000-ha hill slope portion of the “Colli Orientali del Friuli” AOC district (Italy). The morphological characteristics – horizon sequence and the characteristics of each horizon – of 236 auger borings were recorded in 2006 according to the conventional practice for detailed soil surveys. The combination of “soft” data recorded in the auger boring campaign and the unsupervised clustering procedure consistently reduced the costs of survey. In particular, it helped us to delineate three different soil-landscape units being candidate for terroir delineation. Viticulture trials now in progress will give a final answer at the end of 2008.
Authors: Gilberto BRAGATO and Davide MOSETTI
CRA – Centro per lo studio delle relazioni tra pianta e suolo
Via Trieste, 23 – 34170 Gorizia, Italy
Email: gilberto.bragato@entecra.it
Keywords: continuous classification, dissimilarity, soil suitability, soil survey