Search Results (80)

Innovative applications of high-resolution airborne imaging are explored for detecting grapevine diseases. Driven by the motivation to enhance early disease detection, the method’s effectiveness lies in its capacity to identify isolated cases of grapevine yellows (Flavescence dorée and Bois Noir) and trunk disease (Esca complex), crucial for preventing the disease from spreading to unaffected areas. Conducted over a 17 ha vineyard in the Forlì municipality in Emilia-Romagna (Italy), the aerial survey utilized a photogrammetric camera capturing centimeter-level resolution images of the whole area in 17 minutes. These images were then processed through an automated analysis leveraging RGB-based spectral indices (Green–Red Vegetation Index—GRVI, Green–Blue Vegetation Index—GBVI, and Blue–Red Vegetation Index—BRVI). The analysis scanned the 1.24 · 10⁹ pixels of the orthomosaic, detecting 0.4% of the vineyard area showing evidence of disease. The instances, density, and incidence maps provide insights into symptoms’ spatial distribution and facilitate precise interventions. High specificity (0.96) and good sensitivity (0.56) emerged from the ground field observation campaign. Statistical analysis revealed a significant edge effect in symptom distribution, with higher disease occurrence near vineyard borders. This pattern, confirmed by spatial autocorrelation and non-parametric tests, likely reflects increased vector activity and environmental stress at the vineyard margins. The presented pilot study not only provides a reliable detection tool for grapevine diseases but also lays the groundwork for an early warning system that, if extended to larger areas, could offer a valuable system to guide on-the-ground monitoring and facilitate strategic decision-making by the authorities. Full article

Italy is a global top wine producer, with emphasis on high-quality wines. This study investigates the Carbon Footprint (CF), Water Footprint (WF), and Ecological Footprint (EF) of twelve red wine producers in Piedmont, Northern Italy. The analysis was based on a 0.75 L wine bottle as functional unit (FU). Twelve producers were interviewed and given questionnaires, which made it possible to gather primary data for the environmental evaluation that described vineyard and agricultural operations and wine production. The average CF was 0.88 ± 0.3 kg ${CO}_{2eq},$ with 44% of CF associated with the glass bottle, 20% to the diesel fuel fed to the agricultural machines, 32% to electricity consumption, and 4% to other contributions. The average WF was 881 ± 252.4 L, with 98% Green WF due to evapotranspiration, and 2% Blue and Grey WF. The average EF was 81.3 ± 57.2 global ha, 73% ascribed to the vineyard area and 27% to CO₂ assimilation. The obtained CF and WF values align with existing literature, while no comparison is possible for the EF data, which are previously unknown. To reduce the environmental impacts of wine production, actions like using recycled glass bottles, electric agricultural machines and renewable energy can help. However, high-quality wine production in Piedmont is deeply rooted in tradition and mostly managed by small producers. Further research should investigate the social acceptance of such actions, and policies supporting economic incentives could be key enablers. 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

Ten vineyards, belonging to five wine regions, were selected in this study. Maturity indicators and phenolic and aromatic compounds were measured to investigate relationships with factors related to the terroir, including climate conditions and soil nutrients. Multiple factor analysis of all compositions showed that different wine regions or vineyards had different characteristics, which were partly associated with the terroir. The results showed that Shizuishan had high sugar content. A high level of anthocyanins could be found in Qingtongxia and Yongning, respectively. Moreover, Qingtongxia had higher concentrations of monomeric phenols in grapes than the others. LSYH (Lanshanyunhao) and LL (Lilan) had higher YAN (yeast assimilable nitrogen) content and pH in grapes, but their wine had a green flavor (high concentration of alcoholic volatile compounds). The Shizuishan and Hongsipu wine regions had fruitier flavors (high concentration of ester volatile compounds). This study demonstrated the characteristics of different vineyards and wine regions, providing a direction for the future development of region-specific grapes and wines. Full article

Botryosphaeria dieback disease is a significant grapevine trunk disease (GTD) caused by species of Botryosphaeriaceae in Chile and worldwide. Moreover, Botryosphaeriaceae have been described attacking fruit and nut crops in Chile. However, it remains unknown whether fungal isolates from tree hosts have the potential to infect grapevines in Chile. The aggressiveness and potential cross infection of species of Botryosphaeriaceae collected from crops (grapevines, apples, blueberries, and walnuts), was assessed on grapevines. Plant materials, including nursery cuttings, lignified canes, and green shoots of grapevine cultivars (Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc, Malbec, Aspirant Bouschet, and Merlot), were inoculated with Diplodia mutila, D. seriata, Dothiorella sarmentorum, Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Neofusicoccum arbuti, and N. parvum, under greenhouse and vineyard conditions. Regardless of the origin of the isolates, most species of Botryosphaeriaceae were pathogenic on plant materials, causing necrotic lesions of mean lengths from 11.9 to 86.2 mm using mycelial suspension and from 24.8 to 253.7 mm with mycelial plugs. Notably, Neofusicoccum species were the most aggressive, regardless of host origin. Other less aggressive species included L. theobromae, D. mutila, and D. seriata isolated from apple and walnut. This study highlights the potential of species of Botryosphaeriaceae from alternative fruit hosts as inoculum sources for grapevines in Chile. Full article

Climate-driven water challenges in the Pacific Northwest necessitate precise irrigation for sustainable vineyard management. In such scenarios, conservation of water using different approaches, including subsurface irrigation, becomes critical. Detecting crop water status becomes key to evaluating and managing such approaches. This study examines how multispectral, thermal, and hyperspectral proximal sensing data depict irrigation-induced variations in stomatal conductance in Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards during 2016 and 2017. The roles of individual and combined sensing modalities were analyzed, with key contributions including the identification of indices that characterize stomatal conductance. Data were collected at the following growth stages: 80 and 44 days before harvest (DBH) in 2016; and 64, 44, and 8 DBH in 2017. The vegetation indices analyzed included the green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI) and leaf area index (LAI) from multispectral data, crop water stress index (CWSI) from thermal data, and normalized difference spectral indices (NDSI) from hyperspectral data. Pearson’s correlations at 80 and 44 DBH (2016) showed significant relationships between normalized stomatal conductance and multispectral indices (LAI: r = 0.59 to 0.66, GNDVI: r = 0.41 to 0.50, both p < 0.01). NDSI pairs (1380 nm with 1570 nm, 1570 nm with 1810 nm) at 80 DBH showed significant correlations (r = −0.27, 0.31, both p < 0.05). In 2017, the thermal data showed the strongest correlation with normalized stomatal conductance (r = −0.83) at 44 DBH. In the same year, NDSI pairs exhibited stronger correlations than multispectral indices as the DBH decreased (1380 nm with 1570 nm: r = −0.58 to −0.69, 1570 nm with 1810 nm: r = 0.64 to 0.48, both p < 0.05). Combining LAI with these NDSI pairs improved stomatal conductance predictions (2016: R² = 0.37–0.50; 2017: R² = 0.51–0.63, both p < 0.01). These results demonstrate the precision of a multimodal sensing approach, particularly integrating multispectral and hyperspectral data, to improve irrigation strategies and promote sustainable viticulture. Full article

The monitoring of grape quality parameters within viticulture using airborne remote sensing is an increasingly important aspect of precision viticulture. Airborne remote sensing allows high volumes of spatial consistent data to be collected with improved efficiency over ground-based surveys. Spectral data can be used to understand the characteristics of vineyards, including the characteristics and health of the vines. Within viticultural remote sensing, the use of cover-crop spectra for monitoring is often overlooked due to the perceived noise it generates within imagery. However, within viticulture, the cover crop is a widely used and important management tool. This study uses multispectral data acquired by a high-resolution uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) and Sentinel-2 MSI to explore the benefit that cover-crop pixels could have for grape yield and quality monitoring. This study was undertaken across three growing seasons in the southeast of England, at a large commercial wine producer. The site was split into a number of vineyards, with sub-blocks for different vine varieties and rootstocks. Pre-harvest multispectral UAV imagery was collected across three vineyard parcels. UAV imagery was radiometrically corrected and stitched to create orthomosaics (red, green, and near-infrared) for each vineyard and survey date. Orthomosaics were segmented into pure cover-crop_uav and pure vine_uav pixels, removing the impact that mixed pixels could have upon analysis, with three vegetation indices (VIs) constructed from the segmented imagery. Sentinel-2 Level 2a bottom of atmosphere scenes were also acquired as close to UAV surveys as possible. In parallel, the yield and quality surveys were undertaken one to two weeks prior to harvest. Laboratory refractometry was performed to determine the grape total acid, total soluble solids, alpha amino acids, and berry weight. Extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost v2.1.1) was used to determine the ability of remote sensing data to predict the grape yield and quality parameters. Results suggested that pure cover-crop_uav was a successful predictor of grape yield and quality parameters (range of R² = 0.37–0.45), with model evaluation results comparable to pure vine_uav and Sentinel-2 models. The analysis also showed that, whilst the structural similarity between the both UAV and Sentinel-2 data was high, the cover crop is the most influential spectral component within the Sentinel-2 data. This research presents novel evidence for the ability of cover-crop_uav to predict grape yield and quality. Moreover, this finding then provides a mechanism which explains the success of the Sentinel-2 modelling of grape yield and quality. For growers and wine producers, creating grape yield and quality prediction models through moderate-resolution satellite imagery would be a significant innovation. Proving more cost-effective than UAV monitoring for large vineyards, such methodologies could also act to bring substantial cost savings to vineyard management. Full article

Asynchronous ripening is a significant challenge in winemaking. Green berries reduce alcohol and pH while increasing acidity. Green berries are rich in bitter and astringent compounds, with an unknown impact on wine quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of harvest date and vineyard location on the polyphenolic composition of Plavac Mali wines in Dalmatia, Croatia. Experiments were conducted in two locations, Split and Zadar, producing fifteen wines per location from four harvest dates (H1–H4), including green berry wines from H1. The first harvest date occurred 27 days after véraison (DAV) and the last at 69 DAV, corresponding to overripeness. Green berry wines of H1 had low alcohol content up to 4.4% (v/v) in Split. Epigallocatechin was the main flavonoid in those wines, followed by dimer B1 in Split and catechin in Zadar. Green wines from Split had a higher concentration of phenolic acids, flavan-3-ol monomers and dimers. Wines of H3 had the highest concentration of malvidin-3-O-glucoside. With a later harvest date, a dramatic decrease in catechin and dimers was observed in wines from Split, and a decrease in epicatechin, epigallocatechin and dimer B1 in those from Zadar. The final expression of the physiochemical and polyphenolic composition of Plavac Mali wine is determined by the dynamics of harvest date, location and their interactions. Full article

The “aromatic maturity” of winegrapes is not fully understood, particularly during the later stages of ripening. The contribution of grapes to wine aroma has historically been challenging to determine, given most aroma compounds originate from nonvolatile precursors. In this study, an analytical approach previously developed for red winegrapes was adapted to assess the “aroma potential” of Riesling from two vineyards in Essenheim and Durbach, Germany, during the 2022 vintage, by extracting and hydrolyzing aroma precursors in an anoxic model wine matrix. Following sensory and chemical analyses of the hydrolysates using flash profiling and gas chromatography, a multiple factor analysis revealed vineyard- and ripening-dependent changes to aroma, even after total soluble solids had plateaued. As samples matured, green apple and fresh/vegetal aromas were prominent among the Durbach hydrolysates, likely due to persistent concentrations of hexanol. Hydrolysates from both vineyards nonetheless developed more pronounced citrus fruit, tropical fruit, and floral aromas, reflecting increased concentrations of various norisoprenoids and terpenoids. Findings suggest delaying harvest past technological maturity could confer greater aromatic intensity and complexity. The analytical approach used here appears promising for future studies on other grape varieties and other factors that could influence aroma, such as viticultural practices and environmental conditions. Full article

Vine growing is one of the most economically important sectors of Mediterranean agriculture, but its cultivation practices are highly detrimental to the environment and the associated biota. The application of both natural products inducing endogenous plant defense mechanisms and natural soil management systems represents a potential solution for the preservation and improvement of soil health and biodiversity. The Life Green Grapes project aimed at evaluating the effects of different natural and sustainable vine protection strategies and soil management on vineyard edaphic communities. Soil TOC, TN, C:N ratio, CaCO₃ content and pH were measured. Microbial communities (bacteria and fungi) were characterized through NGS, while nematodes and microarthropods were isolated and identified. Obtained data highlighted a relationshipbetween bacteria, fungi and nematodes with soil chemistry, and an effect of the different soil management on the single and total edaphic communities. Network analysis evidenced a positive effect of the application of sustainable soil managements on the relationships among the different investigated soil trophic levels, suggesting that more natural soil managements allow a better interaction between soil organisms. In conclusion, this work confirms the importance of the application of sustainable and natural soil management practices in agricultural ecosystems, with the aim of conserving and improving soil biodiversity. Full article

Grapevine is one of the most economically important fruit crops cultivated worldwide. However, grapevine is highly susceptible to virus infections and exposed to the most diverse forms of viral diseases compared to other fruit crops, and virus-induced incompatibility affects plant growth to different degrees ranging from decline to death. The influence of virus-induced incompatibility could be mitigated to an acceptable level by using appropriate rootstocks. However, the viral tolerance of various grapevine rootstocks with diverse genetic backgrounds remains unclear, along with the identification of the specific viral tolerance factors. In this study, the viral tolerance of 21 grapevine rootstocks was evaluated in a green grafting system. Cabernet Franc varieties infected with a single virus [grapevine leafroll associated virus-1 (GLRaV-1)], a co-infection of two viruses (GLRaV-1 plus grapevine virus A—GVA), and no infection were used as the scions, respectively. The vegetative growth and photosynthetic function of the grafts were analyzed 4 months after grafting. The results indicated that some rootstocks could alleviate the influence of the virus infection, with vegetative growth and photosynthetic function sustained at a normal level, whereas other rootstocks were susceptible to the virus infection, resulting in a decline in the growth and photosynthetic function of the grafts. Our research provides evidence for the existence and diversity of viral tolerance among grapevine rootstocks, offering important information for appropriate rootstock selection in the establishment of new vineyards and in the breeding of grapevine rootstocks with enhanced viral tolerance. Full article

Grapevine roots, as a side-stream of a vineyard, are a sustainable resource for the recovery of oligomeric stilbenoids, such as the bioactive r-viniferin. The aim of this study is to evaluate an in silico-supported method, based on the Conductor-like Screening Model for Real Solvents (COSMO-RS), for selection of environmentally friendly natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) with regard to the extraction of grapevine roots. The most suitable NADES system for ultrasonic-assisted extraction of r-viniferin was choline chloride/1,2-propanediol. The optimal extraction parameters for r-viniferin were determined using single-factor experiments as follows: choline chloride/1,2-propanediol 1/2 mol/mol, 10 wt% H₂O, biomass/NADES ratio 1/10 g/g, and 10 min extraction time. Under optimized conditions, the extraction yield of r-viniferin from grapevine roots reached 76% of the total r-viniferin content. Regarding stability, stilbenoids in choline chloride/1,2-propanediol remained stable during 128 days of storage at ambient temperature. However, fructose/lactic acid-based NADES were observed to degrade stilbenoids; therefore, the removal of the NADES will be of interest, with a suitable method implemented using Amberlite^® XAD-16N resin. As green solvents, the NADES have been used as effective and environmentally friendly extractants of stilbenoid-containing extracts from grapevine roots for potential applications in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry or as nutraceuticals in the food industry. Full article

In times of global insect decline, agricultural ecosystems need to be designed in an as insect-friendly manner as possible to halt the progressive loss of biodiversity. This is particularly important for steep-slope viticulture being established on sites with high biodiversity potential. Therefore, we compared different vineyard types (cross-slope with greened embankments vs. down-slope or other types without greened embankments), using wild bees and butterflies as indicators for biodiversity in the lower Moselle region (SW Germany). The numbers of species and individuals in both groups were significantly higher in cross-slope vineyards with greened embankments. This also held true for the number of specialised and endangered species. The communities of wild bees and butterflies differed remarkably between the vineyard types. Three wild bee and five butterfly species were identified as indicator species and hence can be used as such for further monitoring. Our results underline that the structure of steep-slope vineyards has tremendous importance for biodiversity conservation. Since the cultivation of cross-slope vineyards on steep slopes is easier than that of down-slope vineyards, we assume the great synergistic potential to reconcile agricultural use and biodiversity conservation and, in addition, to preserve steep-slope viticulture as a structural element in landscape planning. Full article

Farmers hoping to manage cropping systems sustainably are turning to cover crops to help mitigate plant pathogens. Plants with biofumigant properties are used to control soil-borne pathogens in agricultural settings, especially in till systems, where the brassicas are incorporated into the soil as green manure or seed meal. The effect of these crops is not well studied in no-till systems; thus, it is hard to know if they are as effective as green manure. Whether or not these cover crops can effect changes during a single growth season has not yet been studied. This study compared the response of the soil microbial community to four different brassica cover crops, two of which are commonly used in vineyards (Sinapis alba L. (white mustard) and Raphanus sativus (L.) Domin (tillage radish)) as well as two brassicas that are native or naturalized to the Okanagan (Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik. (Shepherd’s purse) and Boechera holboelli (Hornem.) Á. Löve and D. Löve (Holbøll’s rockcress)). Cover crops did not affect fungal species richness, but B. holboelli recover crops were associated with increased evenness among fungal taxa. Both C. bursa-pastoris and S. alba had lower levels of plant parasitic nematodes compared to non-brassica controls. These results were apparent only after a single growing season, which indicates growers could use this approach as needed, minimizing long-term exposure to biofumigants for beneficial soil microbes. Full article

The traditional method for determining wine grape total soluble solid (TSS) is destructive laboratory analysis, which is time consuming and expensive. In this study, we explore the potential of using different predictor variables from various advanced techniques to predict the grape TSS in a non-destructive and rapid way. Calculating Pearson’s correlation coefficient between the vegetation indices (VIs) obtained from UAV multispectral imagery and grape TSS resulted in a strong correlation between OSAVI and grape TSS with a coefficient of 0.64. Additionally, seven machine learning models including ridge regression and lasso regression, k-Nearest neighbor (KNN), support vector regression (SVR), random forest regression (RFR), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), and artificial neural network (ANN) are used to build the prediction models. The predictor variables include the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) derived VIs, and other ancillary variables including normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI_proximal) and soil electrical conductivity (EC_a) measured by proximal sensors, elevation, slope, trunk circumference, and day of the year for each sampling date. When using 23 VIs and other ancillary variables as input variables, the results show that ensemble learning models (RFR, and XGBoost) outperform other regression models when predicting grape TSS, with the average of root mean square error (RMSE) of 1.19 and 1.2 °Brix, and coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.52 and 0.52, respectively, during the 20 times testing process. In addition, this study examines the prediction performance of using optimized soil adjusted vegetation index (OSAVI) or normalized green-blue difference index (NGBDI) as the main input for different machine learning models with other ancillary variables. When using OSAVI-based models, the best prediction model is RFR with an average R² of 0.51 and RMSE of 1.19 °Brix, respectively. For NGBDI-based model, the RFR model showed the best average result of predicting TSS were a R² of 0.54 and a RMSE of 1.16 °Brix, respectively. The approach proposed in this study provides an opportunity to grape growers to estimate the whole vineyard grape TSS in a non-destructive way. Full article