Combination of NIR multispectral information acquired from a ground moving vehicle with AI methods to assess the vine water status in a Tempranillo (Vitis vinifera L.) commercial vineyard

It was at the end of the second world war that professor Branas laid the foundations of french vine selection. He was also behind the creation of domaine de vassal (1949) and antav (1962), which were to become the bridgeheads of the french strategy for the conservation, selection and multiplication of viticultural diversity. Initially based on visually virus-symptom-free massal selections, with the main aim of providing healthy, clearly-identified plant material, the process evolved as knowledge gained towards clonal selection.

Elemental sulfur is commonly used in vineyards as a fungicide to prevent diseases and protect grapevines.1 The challenges of climate change are intensifying disease pressure, further increasing the reliance on sulfur use. Understanding the range of potential impacts of residual sulfur during the winemaking process is becoming increasingly important.

In mediterranean agriculture, sustainability and productivity are seriously threatened by climate change and water scarcity. This situation is exacerbated by poor management practices such as excessive use of agrochemicals, overgrazing, and monoculture. The Douro demarcated region (ddr) is an emblematic region, classified world heritage site by UNESCO in 2001. Viticulture is the main agricultural activity in DDR, widely known to produce port wine.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted by nearly all plant organs of the plants, including leaves. They play a key role in the communication with other organisms, therefore they are involved in plant defence against phytopathogens. In this study VOCs from grapevine leaves of two varieties of Vitis vinifera infected by Erysiphe necator were analysed. The varieties were selected based on their susceptibility to pathogen, Kishmish Vatkana has the Ren1 resistance gene and Zamarrica showed high susceptibility in previous trials.

Management of plant-parasitic nematodes is typically focused on preplant fumigation, especially in a vineyard replant scenario. While the data are clear that this practice reduces nematodes immediately after application, which is useful in annually-cropped systems, does it have staying power in perennial cropping systems? The northern root-knot nematode Meloidogyne hapla reduces the overall lifespan and productivity of vineyards, but it does so over a long time period (slow, chronic decline). In two different commercial own-rooted V. vinifera vineyards, both undergoing vineyard replanting, we explored whether preplant fumigation reduced M. hapla densities in soils immediately after application. At one of these locations, we have explored the long-term effect of fumigation by monitoring the site for seven years post fumigation.