Search Results (32)

This study evaluates the agronomic potential of two types of vermicompost—one produced solely from wine industry residues (WIR) and one incorporating sewage sludge (WIR + SS)—under rainfed and deficit irrigation conditions in Mediterranean vineyards. The vermicompost was obtained through a two-phase process involving initial thermophilic pre-composting, followed by vermicomposting using Eisenia fetida for 90 days. The conditions were optimized to ensure aerobic decomposition and maintain proper moisture levels (70–85%) and temperature control. This resulted in end products that met the legal standards required for agricultural use. However, population dynamics revealed significantly higher worm reproduction and biomass in the WIR treatment, suggesting superior substrate quality. When applied to grapevines, WIR vermicompost increased soil organic matter, nitrogen availability, and overall fertility. Under rainfed conditions, it improved vegetative growth, yield, and must quality, with increases in yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN), sugar content, and amino acid levels comparable to those achieved using chemical fertilizers, as opposed to the no-fertilizer trial. Foliar analyses at veraison revealed stronger nutrient uptake, particularly of nitrogen and potassium, which was correlated with improved oenological parameters compared to the no-fertilizer trial. In contrast, WIR + SS compost was less favorable due to lower worm activity and elevated trace elements, despite remaining within legal limits. These results support the use of vermicompost derived solely from wine residues as a sustainable alternative to chemical fertilizers, in line with the goals of the circular economy in viticulture. Full article

Monitoring the water status of fruit orchards is required to optimize crop water management and determine irrigation scheduling. For this purpose, capacitance probes are commonly used to measure soil water content (θ_s). However, when these probes are not calibrated, the estimates of θ_s are, therefore, unreliable. Our objective was to relate the measurements of capacitance probes, without a site-specific calibration, with a reliable indicator of the water status (stem water potential at solar noon (Ψ_stem)) of rain-fed grapevines grown under contrasting soil management strategies (tillage and spontaneous vegetation) and of irrigated peach and pear trees. During the 2023 growing season, θ_s was monitored in a peach and a pear orchard and in a vineyard in northeast Spain using capacitance sensors at three depths: 0.15, 0.30, and 0.45 m. Correlation coefficients ranged from 0.75 to 0.87 in peach trees, from 0.53 to 0.56 in pear trees, and from 0.56 to 0.90 in grapevines, depending on soil depth. These relationships were significant for both peach trees and grapevines but not for pear trees. Under the conditions of this study, uncalibrated capacitance measurements of θ_s could be useful to assess grapevine and peach tree water status in real time but were limited for pear trees. Full article

Soil degradation is caused by climate change and some agricultural practices. The use of compost from organic waste can be a sustainable solution, but poses risks to soil, crops and fruit. This article examined vineyard yield, vine and wine composition when compost from sewage sludge and urban waste was applied to two soils. One rainfed plot received 80 UFN kg/ha, while two irrigated plots received 40 and 80 UFN kg/ha. Compared to mineral fertilizer, compost increased crop yield (+60% in rainfed conditions) and above-ground biomass (+15% in rainfed conditions). Aromatic series were obtained by grouping the aroma compounds according to their aroma descriptor. In both rainfed and irrigated trials, higher values were observed in the fruity, green, waxy and floral series in wines from vines fertilized with compost compared to the control and chemical fertilization. The compounds with a higher influence in such series were ethyl butanoate, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl octanoate, hexanal, phenylacetaldehyde and 2-phenylethanol. Organoleptically, wines from compost were preferred to those from mineral fertilizer, with ratings close to the control wine, particularly in aroma, flavor and overall impression. Although further studies are needed, compost fertilization appears on the one hand to improve wine quality and, on the other hand, is a suitable alternative that reduces municipal waste. Full article

Future climate conditions may jeopardize the suitability of traditional grape-growing areas in the Mediterranean. However, precise vineyard management is a crucial component of adaptation strategies aimed at optimizing resource efficiency, which is essential for sustainable farming practices. A fine-scale characterization, based on the spatial variability of soil’s physical–chemical and hydrological traits combined with temporal variability of vine canopy temperature extracted from UAV thermal images has been adopted in a rainfed vineyard of central Italy, for better understanding the impact of soil and climate abiotic factors in the vineyard for planning precision adaptation strategies encouraging sustainable resource use. This study identifies significant soil heterogeneity within the tested vineyard, affecting water retention, nutrient availability, and vine water stress. We combined ground-based measurements with remote sensing-enhanced data spatialization and helped to advocate for site-specific management techniques as short- and long-term strategies (such as canopy management, deficit irrigation, and compost application) to counter climate emergencies, restore soil health, and preserve vine function and economic yields. Full article

Natural covering (NATC) has spread on hillside vineyards of central Italy as a replacement for tillage to reduce soil erosion, although it increased nitrogen and water needs. Therefore, in the current context of global warming, using cover crops (CCs) that require less water and provide nitrogen becomes crucial. The effects of two low-competition legume-enriched CCs in a rainfed hillside vineyard—a perennial legume–grass mixture (PLGM) and an annual legume cover crop of Trifolium alexandrinum (ALTA)—were compared with NATC over three years. PLGM and ALTA provided good levels of soil coverage, slightly lower than NATC, which had a negligible presence of legumes. PLGM and ALTA, due to low competition, enhanced vine vigor, resulting in thicker and wider canopies (as indicated by total leaf area and leaf layer number), higher pruning weight, and increased yield. PLGM and ALTA led to good qualitative levels, with higher grapes acidities, lower pH and total soluble solids content and, additionally, significantly higher yeast assimilable nitrogen content. In conclusion, implementing low-competition legume species in CCs is an effective tool to avoid soil erosion in a climate change scenario, leading to increased productivity, higher acidity, and improved nitrogen content in the grapes. Full article

Soil water balance (SWB) in woody crops is sometimes difficult to estimate with one-dimensional models because these crops do not completely cover the soil and usually have a deep root system, particularly when cropped under rainfed conditions in a Mediterranean climate. In this study, the actual crop evapotranspiration (ET_{c act}) is estimated with the soil water balance model SIMDualKc which uses the dual-K_c approach (relating the fraction of soil cover with the crop coefficients) to improve the estimation of the water requirements of a rainfed vineyard, using data from a deep soil profile. The actual basal crop coefficient (K_{cb act}) obtained using the SIMDualKc model was compared with the K_{cb act} estimated using the A&P approach, which is a simplified approach based on measurements of the fraction of ground cover and crop height. Spectral vegetation indices (VIs) derived from Landsat-5 satellite data were used to determine the fraction of ground cover (f_{c VI}) and thus the density coefficient (K_d). The SIMDualKc model was calibrated using available soil water (ASW) measurements down to a depth of 1.85 m, which significantly improved the conditions for using an SWB estimation model. The test of the model was performed using a different ASW dataset. A good agreement between simulated and field-measured ASW was observed for both data sets along the crop season, with RMSE < 12.0 mm and NRMSE < 13%. The calibrated K_cb values were 0.15, 0.60, and 0.52 for the initial, mid-season, and end season, respectively. The ratio between ET_{c act} and crop evapotranspiration (ET_c) was quite low between veraison and maturity (mid-season), corresponding to 36%, indicating that the rainfall was not sufficient to satisfy the vineyard’s water requirements. VIs used to compute f_{c VI} were unable to fully track the plants’ conditions during water stress. However, ingestion of data from remote sensing (RS) showed promising results that could be used to support decision making in irrigation scheduling. Further studies on the use of the A&P approach using RS data are required. Full article

Water is essential for maintaining plant health and optimal growth in agriculture. While some crops depend on irrigation, others can rely on rainfed water, depending on regional climatic conditions. This is exemplified by grapevines, which have specific water level requirements, and irrigation systems are needed. However, these systems can be susceptible to damage or leaks, which are not always easy to detect, requiring meticulous and time-consuming inspection. This study presents a methodology for identifying potential damage or leaks in vineyard irrigation systems using RGB and thermal infrared (TIR) imagery acquired by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The RGB imagery was used to distinguish between grapevine and non-grapevine pixels, enabling the division of TIR data into three raster products: temperature from grapevines, from non-grapevine areas, and from the entire evaluated vineyard plot. By analyzing the mean temperature values from equally spaced row sections, different threshold values were calculated to estimate and map potential leaks. These thresholds included the lower quintile value, the mean temperature minus the standard deviation ($T_{mean}-\sigma$), and the mean temperature minus two times the standard deviation ($T_{mean}-2\sigma$). The lower quintile threshold showed the best performance in identifying known leak areas and highlighting the closest rows that need inspection in the field. This approach presents a promising solution for inspecting vineyard irrigation systems. By using UAVs, larger areas can be covered on-demand, improving the efficiency and scope of the inspection process. This not only reduces water wastage in viticulture and eases grapevine water stress but also optimizes viticulture practices. Full article

Soil water availability during the vine growth cycle can affect yield and grape quality. The objective was to evaluate the effect of soil water holding capacity (AWC) and available soil water (ASW) throughout the growing cycle on the nutritional status, vigor, production, and composition of grapes and wine. The study was conducted in the municipality of Uruñuela in the DOCa Rioja (Spain). The soils of four rainfed vineyard plots were characterized to determine AWC and its impacts on vine, grape, and wine composition. The N, P, and K foliar content, vigor, grape yield, berry weight, and composition of must and wine were analyzed in those vineyard plots during the period 2010–2014. The ASW was simulated in each plot and each year analyzed, considering the soil properties and the weather conditions, after model calibration in one plot in which soil water content was registered. The results showed that AWC influenced ASW along the growing cycle, so vines suffered from water stress in some periods of the vegetative cycle. Plots with higher AWC had higher ASW from fruit set to ripening and lower water stress during this period, which explains the higher N, P, and K foliar content, vigor and grape yield, and lower polyphenol and anthocyanin content in grapes and wines. The period where water availability had the most influence on the quality of the grapes was from veraison to ripening, during which ASW increased berry weight and acidity and decreased anthocyanins and polyphenolic compounds. Full article

Soil CO₂ efflux is a pivotal component of agro-ecosystem C budgets. It is considered a proxy indicator of biological activity and a descriptor of soil quality that is strongly linked to agricultural soil management. We investigated the effects of soil fertilization practices (organo-mineral (OMN) versus chemical (C)) on soil under-vine CO₂ efflux (TSR) in an Italian rainfed vineyard (cv Chardonnay). The TSR was measured using the chamber technique as follows: a close multi-chamber system (prototype) was placed under a vine. Data (CO₂, temperature, and moisture) were acquired hourly during two consecutive years (2021 and 2022) from flowering to berry ripening. Physical–hydrological soil parameters were determined, and the seasonal trends of the TSR, soil temperature, and soil moisture were assessed. The TSR measurements fluctuated for the 2021 season, ranging from 1.03 to 1.97 µmol CO₂∙m⁻²∙s⁻¹ for the C treatment, while for the OMN treatment, the TSR measurements ranged from 1.24 to 1.71 µmol CO₂∙m⁻²∙s⁻¹. Extreme weather conditions (2022) highlighted the differences between the two agronomical practices, and a decoupling was found between the TSR and the soil water content, with the TSR being controlled primarily by the soil temperature. At the daily scale, the findings showed that the TSR reached its minimum in the early morning hours (5:00–8:00). The results promote organic–mineral nutrition as an improved practice for soil carbon storage (restoration of the organic fraction) by reducing the TSR, permitting the preservation of soil quality and stabilizing the hydrological traits by preserving the biotic activities. Full article

One of the biggest environmental challenges that most of the traditional and modern grape-growing areas are facing is the frequency, severity, and unpredictability of extreme weather events as a result of climate change. Sustainable tools such as chemically inert mineral particles could be a valid alternative for the promotion of environmentally-friendly viticultural techniques to enhance yield, improve physiological processes, and increase tolerance to biotic/abiotic stressors and grape quality. In regard to this concept, the effects of kaolin (KL) and zeolite (ZL) application was tested in the rosé grapevine cultivar Roditis, field-and rainfed, under the Mediterranean conditions of central Greece. In a two-year trial, the whole vine canopy was sprayed with kaolin and zeolite until runoff at a dose of 3% (w/v) twice throughout the growing season; the first at the beginning of veraison and the second one week later; treatment of the untreated control plants was also performed (C). The assimilation rate in morning and midday, the stomatal conductance, and the WUEi of the leaves of the treated and untreated plants were monitored one day after each application and at harvest. During the same time period of the day (i.e., morning and midday) in July, August, and September, the leaf temperature near the fruit zone was also recorded. At harvest, the yield parameters, cluster characteristics, grape composition, and incidence (%) of sunburned and dehydrated berries as well as berries infected by Plasmopara viticola and Lobesia botrana were recorded. The results showed that KL and ZL application decreased leaf temperature during the growing season until harvest compared to the control treatment, which resulted in an improvement in physiological parameters such as net photosynthesis and intrinsic water use efficiency. At harvest, the KL- and ZL-treated vines showed increased yield due to an increasing cluster and berry fresh weight. On the other hand, the KL and ZL application did not affect the sugar concentration and pH of the must and increased the total acidity and decreased the total phenolic compound content, but only in the first year of the experiments. Furthermore, the incidence of sunburn necrosis, dehydrated berries, and infected berries was significantly lower in the treated vines compared to the control vines. These results confirm the promising potential of kaolin and zeolite applications as a stress mitigation strategy during the summer period, with the ability to protect grapevine plants, enhance yield, and maintain or improve fruit quality in rainfed Mediterranean vineyards. Full article

Vineyards in southeastern Spain, although subjected to a semi-arid climate, generate multiple environmental and socioeconomic benefits. However, they have an uncertain future, mainly due to the price of grapes, as well as the limited water resources and the effects of climate change. For this reason, in this work a sustainability evaluation was carried out through life cycle costing analysis (LCC) combined with life cycle assessment (LCA) for four vineyard models characteristic of the area: two rainfed (conventional and organic) and two irrigated (conventional and organic). The greatest differences in the cost structure between the rainfed and irrigated systems are due to the amortization of the infrastructure of the irrigated vineyards, which requires high gross production, via productivity in kilos or in a grape price that prioritizes quality. In addition, the environmental impacts are greater due to this infrastructure. The differences between conventional and organic production for each type of vineyard are of little relevance. The inputs of this crop are minimized, to lower costs, and this entails low economic and environmental costs. However, conventional management entails slightly higher impacts than organic management. Full article

Background: Climate change results in warmer air temperatures and an uncertain amount and distribution of annual precipitations, which will directly impact rainfed crops, such as the grapevine. Traditionally, ancient autochthones grapevine varieties have been substituted by modern ones with higher productivity. However, this homogenization of genotypes reduces the genetic diversity of vineyards which could make their ability to adapt to challenges imposed by future climate conditions difficult. Therefore, this work aimed to assess the response of four ancient grapevine varieties to high temperatures under different water availabilities, focusing on plant water relations, grape technological and phenolic maturity, and the antioxidant capacity of the must. Methods: The study was conducted on fruit-bearing cuttings grown in pots in temperature-gradient greenhouses. A two-factorial design was established where two temperature regimes, ambient and elevated (ambient + 4 °C), were combined with two water regimes, full irrigation and post-veraison deficit irrigation, during fruit ripening. Results: There were significant differences among the ancient varieties regarding plant water relations and fruit quality. Conclusion: This research underlines the importance of evaluating the behavior of ancient grapevine varieties that could offer good options for the adaptation of viticulture to future climate conditions. Full article

Remote sensing methods are known to provide estimates of berry quality. However, previous studies have shown that the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) failed to predict berry quality attributes in rain-fed vineyards. This study explores the association of several reflectance indices with vine biophysical characteristics and berry yield and quality attributes and their temporal stability. The study was conducted in rain-fed Chardonnay vineyards located around Masquefa (Penedès region, Catalonia, Spain) over four years. Canopy reflectance, fractional Intercepted Photosynthetic Active Radiation, predawn water potential and canopy temperature at midday were measured at veraison whereas berry yield and quality attributes were determined at harvest. Water availability and vine biophysical attributes showed large temporal stability whereas berry quality attributes were not temporally stable. The capability of reflectance indices to estimate berry quality attributes was subject to the timing and extent of water deficits. The Photochemical Reflectance Index (PRI), the NDVI and the Water Index (WI) provided estimates of berry quality attributes under mild, moderate and severe water deficits, respectively. These results might have potential applications in precision viticulture activities such as selective harvesting according to grape quality attributes and the assessment of ripening. Full article

The effectiveness of a seeded cover crop to minimize soil nutrient losses was evaluated in a rainfed vineyard. Two sediment tanks were installed (ST2: drainage area with high ground cover (GC: 82%) and ST3: very high GC (89%)) and samples from 26 time-integrated periods (TIP) were collected over 15 months. The average soil nutrient content was previously estimated in the drainage areas of ST2 (N_total: 0.967 mg/g; P_ava: 0.411 mg/g; K_ava: 1.762 mg/g) and ST3 (N_total: 0.711 mg/g; P_ava: 0.437 mg/g; K_ava: 1.856 mg/g). The sediment nutrient concentrations and the sediment/soil enrichment ratios were comparable between ST2 and ST3, but the total loss of nutrients clearly differed among areas. The loss of nutrients in the area with lower GC (379.7 g N-P-K/ha/yr) was 8.3 times higher than in the area with higher GC (45.8 g N-P-K/ha/yr), and this pattern remained during the months with low, medium and high GC: 91.9, 2.1 and 2.1 g N-P-K/ha/month in ST2 and 6.9, 3.0 and 3.5 g N-P-K/ha/month in ST3. The benefits of greater GC promote the environmental and agronomic sustainability by the functions of the cover crop, favoring healthy soils and a reduction in the investment of the farmers in fertilizers. This is very relevant in a postpandemic world under the threat of the war in Ukraine, the lack of fertilizers and the need for a local production of food. Full article

Wine phenolics are of considerable interest due to their implication in the organoleptic appreciation of wines and due to their bioactive functions as antioxidants. In this work, the effects of sustainable strategies in the vineyard, regulated deficit irrigation treatments (RDI) and crop load level (CL) on Tempranillo grape phenolics over two seasons was studied. Rainfed (T), early (EDI) and late (LDI) regulated deficit irrigation was applied. Cluster thinning (TH) and control (C) without cluster removal were also applied under each irrigation treatment. The effect of CL remained independent of RDI for all compounds, except for phenolic acids. The RDI influence on the grape skin phenolic profile was higher than CL in the dry season (2009); however, in 2010, the effect of CL was greater. In 2009, a tendency to increase anthocyanin and hydroxycinnamic acid content in grape skins was registered in EDI with respect to T. However, significant decreases in hydroxycinnamic and flavanol compounds were found in LDI. In 2010, the wettest year, CL increased all phenolic families’ content. Thus, it can be concluded that the effects of RDI and cluster thinning treatments depend on the family of compounds considered and the meteorological conditions of the year. Full article