The technological revolution that we have been witnessing recently has allowed components miniaturization and made electronic components accessible. Hyperspectral sensors benefited from these ...advances and could be mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles, which was unthinkable until recently. This fact significantly increased the applications of hyperspectral data, namely in agriculture, especially in the detection of diseases at an early stage. The vineyard is one of the agricultural sectors that has the most to gain from the use of this type of data, both by the economic value and by the number of diseases the plants are exposed to. The Flavescense dorée is a disease that attacks vineyards and may conduct to a significant loss. Nowadays, the detection of this disease is based on the visual identification of symptoms performed by experts who cover the entire area. However, this work remains tedious and relies only on the human eye, which is a problem since sometimes healthy plants are torn out, while diseased ones are left. If the experts think they have found symptoms, they take samples to send to the laboratory for further analysis. If the test is positive, then the whole vine is uprooted, to limit the spread of the disease. In this context, the use of hyperspectral data will allow the development of new disease detection methods. However, it will be necessary to reduce the volume of data used to make them usable by conventional resources. Fortunately, the advent of machine learning techniques empowered the development of systems that allow better decisions to be made, and consequently save time and money. In this article, a machine learning approach, which is based on an Autoencoder to automatically detect wine disease, is proposed.
Xylella fastidiosa (Xf), the causal agent of Pierce's disease (PD), has long been considered a major threat to prosperous European viticulture. In May of 2017, PD was officially detected on a ...grapevine in Mallorca. To better understand the epidemiology of the first established outbreak of PD in Europe, the disease incidence and severity were assessed, vector transmission experiments were performed, and cultivar responses to Xf infections both in the field and in inoculation experiments were monitored. The genetic structure of Xf local populations was also investigated by multilocus sequence typing analysis, and their whole genome sequences and phylogenetic positions compared with respect to PD strains worldwide. Disease incidence was moderately low (0.07) and highly variable, ranging from 0.0 to 0.99. Its economic impact on wine production was considered low. Vineyards managed under conventional viticulture were significantly less infected than organic farming. Under greenhouse conditions, the insect Philaenus spumarius efficiently transmitted the pathogen from infected to healthy grapevines. In the inoculation experiments, Xf infected, to some degree, 29 of the 30 cultivar × rootstock combinations (n = 239). Cultivars Viura, Gorgollasa and Sauvignon Blanc were the most susceptible ones. All Xf isolates from grapevines belonged to sequence type ST1; they phylogenetically clustered within the Californian ST1 clade, with which they shared a 99.94% identity and the same plasmid. In addition, ST1 caused almond leaf scorch disease, where notably its incidence (0.78) and severity was much higher than PD. The likely reasons for these wide differences are discussed in the context of a 20‐year Xf introduction scenario.
Precision Agriculture (PA), also known as Smart Farming, has emerged as an innovative solution to address contemporary challenges in agricultural sustainability. A particular sector within PA, ...Precision Viticulture (PV), is specifically tailored for vineyards. The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) has facilitated the acquisition of higher-resolution meteorological and soil data obtained through in situ sensing. The integration of Machine Learning (ML) with IoT-enabled farm machinery stands at the forefront of the forthcoming agricultural revolution. This data allows ML-based forecasting as an alternative to conventional approaches, providing agronomists with predictive tools essential for improved land productivity and crop quality. This study conducts a thorough examination of vineyards with a specific focus on three key aspects of PV: mitigating frost damage, analyzing soil moisture levels, and addressing grapevine diseases. In this context, several ML-based models are proposed in a real-world scenario involving a vineyard located in southern Italy. The test results affirm the feasibility and efficacy of the ML models, demonstrating their potential to revolutionize vineyard management and contribute to sustainable agricultural practices.
Propagation of uninfected plant material is one of the most effective ways for controlling grapevine disease. Different diagnostic methods are available for testing viral infections, including ...serological techniques such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and molecular techniques based on reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). The objective of this study was to examine seasonal dynamics and spatial distribution of grapevine viruses within field-grown grapevine cultivars, in order to make more efficient virus detection by ELISA and RT-PCR, by identifying and selecting proper plant material and sampling time. For this purpose, a systematic investigation, considering different plant tissues and phenological stages, has been carried out through a multi-year study. Eight grapevine plants with single or multiple viral infections were selected and their state of infection was firstly monitored during the 2007 growing season, followed by a final infection assessment occurred after 5 years. Our results confirmed a strong erratic distribution of viruses within the vines, regardless of sampling stages, tissue type and/or different plant parts. For what concerns seasonal dynamics, our results on long-term infected grapevine plants corroborated the hypothesis that viruses behave differently from each other with respect to their irregular or rather homogeneous spatial distribution. Thus, an accurate sanitary status check of any grapevine must provide several random samples from different plant parts that have to be carried out several times both during a single growing season and through the years, removing infected vines, and taking vector populations under control.
This is the first report of Neofusicoccum australe associated with grapevine dieback in Italy. Fungal isolates obtained from symptomatic tissues were identified on the basis of morphological and ...cultural characteristics as well as ITS sequence data. Pathogenicity was verified by inoculation of excised green grapevine shoots from cv. Cannonau under controlled laboratory conditions
"Bois noir" disease associated with '
Phytoplasma solani' seriously compromises the production and survival of grapevines (
L.) in Europe. Understanding the plant response to phytoplasmas should help ...to improve disease control strategies. Using a combined metabolomic and transcriptomic analysis, this work, therefore, investigated the phytoplasma-grapevine interaction in red cultivar Sangiovese in a vineyard over four seasonal growth stages (from late spring to late summer), comparing leaves from healthy and infected grapevines (symptomatic and symptomless). We found an accumulation of both conjugate and free salicylic acids (SAs) in the leaves of '
. P. solani'-positive plants from early stages of infection, when plants are still asymptomatic. A strong accumulation of gentisic acid (GA) associated with symptoms progression was found for the first time. A detailed analysis of phenylpropanoids revealed a significant accumulation of hydroxycinnamic acids, flavonols, flavan 3-ols, and anthocyanin cyanidin 3-
-glucoside, which are extensively studied due to their involvement in the plant response to various pathogens. Metabolomic data corroborated by gene expression analysis indicated that phenylpropanoid biosynthetic and salicylic acid-responsive genes were upregulated in '
. P. solani-positive plants compared to -negative ones during the observed period.
Chemicals are often used in attempts to control diseases caused by plant pathogenic fungi during food production. However, chemicals can have adverse effects not just on food, but they also remain ...active for a long time within ecosystems, and thus are not environmentally friendly. Therefore, development of bio-treatment and avoiding use of chemicals are urgently needed. With the aim of studying and developing new environmentally-friendly treatments, we tested extracts from selected bryophyte species (Porella platyphylla, Cinclidotus fontinaloides and Anomodon viticulosus) on five plant pathogenic fungi under controlled conditions. The fungi (Botryosphaeria dothidea, Phomopsis viticola, Calosphaeria sp., Colletotrichum acutatum and Monilinia laxa) were selected based on common diseases they cause on fruits and grapevine. They were isolated in cultures and treated with bryophyte extracts. Bryophyte extracts were shown to be effective in suppression of certain plant pathogenic fungi growth and to have a huge potential in development of novel biotechnological treatments and biofungicides. The best results were achieved in inhibition of B. dothidea, P. viticola and Calosphaeria sp.
The high demand for wine in Europe has increased the impact of viticulture on the environment. In line with European objectives, more sustainable agronomic practices have spread as an alternative to ...traditional management. This study aimed to compare, in a vineyard of Pinot blanc and Rhine Riesling in northeast Italy, the integrated agronomic practices (INT) with two types of organic management (ORG1—cattle manure and ORG2—green manure), in terms of production, grape quality, pest susceptibility, and soil nutrient availability. The results, after the fifth, sixth, and seventh year of testing, showed that organic management obtained a yield and vegetative features comparable to INT. Grape quality also did not show considerable overall differences between the theses in the must properties, despite the higher total sugar content and lower yeast available in ORG1. In the three-year period, the management of downy mildew, powdery mildew, and rot, as well as the soil fertilization, with the products available in organic farming proved to be comparable to the INT method. The application of cattle manure contributed by enriching the soil in K and P, while a balanced green manure mix has proven to be the best agronomic practice in terms of the release of mineral N during the phenological stages of greatest need of the vine. Organic management appears as an agronomic strategy able quantitatively and qualitatively support the vineyard system.
Information and telecommunication technologies (ICTs) offer new opportunities to provide more timely information services to farmers. This work aims to present a progressive web app (PWA) for mobile ...devices, which incorporates updated technical information on the pests and diseases of grapevines. In its development, it generated a database with content related to and photographs of grapevine pests and diseases for access by users using mobile devices. In addition, using an Expert System, the application allows the diagnosis of pathologies and the identification of pests by answering questions that are asked. This PWA is mainly addressed to technicians, students, and winegrowers who want to implement more environmentally friendly crop management strategies. Viñamecum is currently freely.
Chemicals are often used in attempts to control diseases caused by plant pathogenic fungi during food production. However, chemicals can have adverse effects not just on food, but they also remain ...active for a long time within ecosystems, and thus are not environmentally friendly. Therefore, development of bio-treatment and avoiding use of chemicals are urgently needed. With the aim of studying and developing new environmentally-friendly treatments, we tested extracts from selected bryophyte species (Porella platyphylla, Cinclidotus fontinaloides and Anomodon viticulosus) on five plant pathogenic fungi under controlled conditions. The fungi (Botryosphaeria dothidea, Phomopsis viticola, Calosphaeria sp., Colletotrichum acutatum and Monilinia laxa) were selected based on common diseases they cause on fruits and grapevine. They were isolated in cultures and treated with bryophyte extracts. Bryophyte extracts were shown to be effective in suppression of certain plant pathogenic fungi growth and to have a huge potential in development of novel biotechnological treatments and biofungicides. The best results were achieved in inhibition of B. dothidea, P. viticola and Calosphaeria sp.
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