•The use of protective netting to reduce fruit sunburn, hail and wind damage is gaining momentum in apple production.•Under high light environments, protective netting can reduce light stress and ...improve plant growth and performance.•Protective netting can change the orchard microclimate thereby altering tree water-use, growth and overall productivity.
The use of protective netting (also called shade nets or anti-hail nets) is being increasingly adopted in apple (Malus × domestica) production. Protective netting is mainly used to prevent fruit sunburn and protect trees against hail damage. Netting can also be used for protection against damage from birds, fruit bats, insects, wind and sand storms. In recent times, protective nets have been modified into photoselective nets by incorporating chromatic elements into the netting material. These change the spectral characteristics of the solar radiation reaching the tree canopy below the net and can affect physiological pathways that respond to the altered light spectra. Protective netting primarily modifies light quantity and quality underneath by reducing light intensity by an approximately pre-determined percentage. Protective netting has also been reported to reduce wind speed and soil temperature with minimal impact on canopy temperature and relative humidity. Quantifying the influence of protective netting on tree gas exchange has been difficult due to variations in the environmental conditions at the time of measurement. Reductions in light intensity due to protective netting result in increased leaf area, shoot length, and total shoot fresh weight that increases as the net shading percentage increases. Fruit set, return bloom, and flower induction are all affected by protective netting. Ultimately, fruit quality is the critical factor determining whether protective netting is suitable for apple production. The reported results on the effect of protective netting on fruit quality have not been conclusive. It has been suggested that changes in fruit quality under protective netting are often more influenced by the environmental conditions in that specific growing season than the netting itself. For example, typical shade responses under netting can be exacerbated when the natural overall light intensity is reduced on cloudy days. In conclusion, protective netting provides an alternative to traditional approaches to protecting apple from sunburn, mechanical injury from hail and wind, and abiotic stress that limits tree productivity. However, the inconsistent reported results suggest a targeted approach is needed to identify specific physiological responses of apple under protective netting, and more specifically, photoselective netting as a strategy to protect apple orchards from adverse environmental conditions.
Traditional small-sized vineyards are especially sensitive to different impacts, including the arrival of new pests. The adults of the yellow-legged hornet (Vespa velutina), an invasive alien species ...present in the Iberian Peninsula since 2010, feed on sugary foods, causing crop losses in vineyards. However, present management techniques for the control of V. velutina are limited, and they do not provide effective control in agricultural settings. This work aims to evaluate the use of an exclusion system in a traditional non-mechanized vineyard of a highly invaded area by V. velutina in NW Spain (Protected Geographical Indication of Betanzos, Galicia) as a method to mitigate the damage caused by hornets. Anti-hail nets were used in a factorial design experiment with groups of netted and unnetted vines of two white wine cultivars in order to address the vineyard production loss. In particular, we aim to 1) asses the effectiveness of anti-hail netting on preventing grape yield loss, 2) assess the impact of anti-hail netting on grape ripening and incidence of bunch fungal infection, and 3) study the potential relationship between the damage caused by V. velutina and grape fungal diseases. Results show that the tested exclusion system increases the crop yield, since it prevents effectively both the damage caused by hornets and birds. No significant correlation between the damage caused by V. velutina and the incidence of bunch fungal diseases was found in either cultivar. However, netting increased slightly the final sugar content in one of the cultivars, as well as the incidence of bunch fungal damage. We discuss the management implications of this exclusion method within the framework of agricultural land abandonment and the loss of traditional landscapes.
•The invasive hornet Vespa velutina can notably reduce crop yield of small vineyards.•Anti-hail netting prevents grape yield losses by hornets and birds.•Netting might alter grape ripening and the bunch fungal diseases of some cultivars.•Economic costs and mechanization needs might reduce acceptance of netting.•Vineyard abandonment is a potential outcome of V. velutina invasion.
Anti-hail nets are the best way to mitigate the effects of hailstorms in the orchards. Apple trees covered with nets may exhibit a variety of vegetative and reproductive responses, inclusive of ...changes in tree vigour, cropping, sugar contents, and fruit colour. The present study was conducted to assess the effect of timing of installation and colour of anti-hail net on cropping and fruit quality in high-density apple orchard for two consecutive seasons (2021 and 2022). White and blue colour nets of size (9 m × 30 m) 80 GSM (square mesh with non-sliding threaded, leno weave, and < 30% shading factor) were installed at three different time intervals (15 days before estimated full bloom, at full bloom, and 15 days after full bloom) on apple cultivar ‘Jeromine’. The installation at different time and colour of anti-hail nets significantly exhibit variability in cropping, fruit quality, and bio-chemical metrics. The significant highest cropping (fruit yield, productivity, and yield efficiency) and fruit biochemical parameters (total soluble solids) were recorded in T
3
C
2
(15 days after full bloom + white colour anti-hail net) followed by T
2
C
2
(installed at full bloom + white colour anti-hail net). Hence, white colour anti-hail nets installed 15 days after full bloom increased fruit production and improved quality in comparison to blue colour anti-hail net in apple under high-density plantations.
The article highlights the effect of the black anti-hail net on the microclimate of intensive apple orchards, cv. Jonagold (Wilmuta), on dwarf rootstock M.9 T337. The soil management system in the ...inter-rows was the following: a grass mowed stripe and black fallow in the inter-rows, spring mulching with a two-layer agro-cloth of 30 + 50 g / m2 density (a white side up) and a light-reflective film in the tree-strips one meter wide spread one month before harvesting. After flowering, a black anti-hail net with 0.3 x 0.3 cm cells and a density of 0.08 kg / m2 was deployed above the tree crowns at a height of 3.4 m. Air temperature and relative humidity were determined with a hygrothermometer, and soil moisture was determined by a thermostatic-weight method. It has been found out that an air temperature in the orchard under the black anti-hail net is 0.5 ° C lower without a significant influence of the method of inter-row soil management system. In most cases, the air relative humidity under the net exceeds the rate of the plots without cover, with a maximum difference of 6.4 % for the areas with black fallow in the inter-rows. As compared to the areas without cover, the average air humidity under the net is 1.9% higher and it is 1.2% higher in the areas with black fallow in the inter-rows. The lowest level of soil moisture (9.2%) was recorded in the layer of 0-20 cm in the plots without net with grass mowed interrows and herbicide fallow in the tree rows. The soil humidity of the deeper layers is 0.2-3.9% higher in the areas with black fallow in the inter-rows and a light-reflecting film or agro-cloth in the tree-strips (with or without an anti-hail net). In general, soil moisture in the orchard without the net is 0.8% higher than that of the covered areas, it is 0.7% higher in the areas with black fallow in the inter-rows and 2.2-2.8% higher in the around-trunk strips with a light-reflective film or agro-cloth.
The new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been designed to shrink funds that Hungarian agricultural reform will in Nowadays, anti-hail nets are a part of basic equipment in a modern apple ...orchards. They decrease the risks of apple production and thus allow regular and quality apple harvest. Colours of nets differently obstruct the passing of light through the net, which directly affects some quality parameters of the yield, especially the fruit skin colour. The article includes a brief overview of studies associated with the impact of light exposure under different types of anti-hail nets on quality of apple fruits, as well as investigations which deal with adaptation of various technological measures, such as the use of reflective ground foil. A part of data from the existing literature explains the effect of anti-hail net usage on forming a microclimate under the net, and consequently, its effect on the development and dynamics of diseases and pests.
Purpose
Hail risk management is essential for successful farm management in German fruit production, particularly because hail events and associated losses have increased in recent years. The purpose ...of this paper is to conduct a detailed risk analysis comparing different strategies to manage hail risk, taking into account farmers’ risk aversion and farm-specific conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
Within an expected utility framework, two different strategies for managing hail risk are compared: one belonging to the group of financial instruments (hail insurance) and the other to the group of technical instruments (anti-hail net). A unique data set comprising a ten-year time series of orchard-specific hail damage and hail insurance data is used.
Findings
For orchards with low local hail risk and low yield potential, not using hail risk mitigation is most efficient. For orchards with high local hail risk and high yield potential, anti-hail nets provide the highest certainty equivalents. For orchards with high local risk, but low yield potential, hail insurance is most efficient. For orchards, with low local risk, but high yield potential, the certainty equivalents are higher for anti-hail net, when the farmer is risk neutral or slightly risk-averse. With increasing risk aversion, hail insurance is most efficient, which can be explained by the greater degree of the instrument’s flexibility.
Originality/value
The novelty of the study lies in the direct comparison of the risk effects of anti-hail nets and hail insurance in fruit production.
The use of anti-hail photoselective nets is new approach in protecting the fruits against hail damage, sunburn and against pests in combination with activating desired physiological responses in ...fruit trees. The trial was established on the apple Malus domestica Borkh. cv. ‘Cripps Pink’ grafted on M9 rootstock in Mediterranean climate of Croatia. Four nets were used: white (W), yellow (Y) and red (R) net from Tenax Company (Italy) and Stop Drosophila Normal (D) from Artes Politechnica Company (Italy). Only white net showed higher yield than control (C). The trees grown under the W and R nets had higher portion of fruits diameter 70-80 mm than C trees and trees grown under the Y net, while D net was similar to other treatments. Nets reduced fruit skin colour, especially Y net which had highest portion of less coloured fruit. Maturation of fruit grown on the trees under the W and R nets, was 9 days earlier than fruit grown on the trees under the D and Y nets. The study showed that net colour has variable influence on physiological response of the tree and it is necessary to test the nets type in specific geographical location.
Climate change is impacting agriculture through a rise in greenhouse gases, higher temperatures and extreme precipitation patterns, with adverse consequences such as hailstorms in horticultural and ...fruit crops. Hail is ice precipitation, usually more than 5 mm in diameter, that is formed in thunderstorms. Hailstorms contain hail particles formed when temperatures are below freezing and there is abundant super-cool liquid water which coexists with ice particles. These ice particles increase in size through collisions with super-cool droplets. Here, we review the occurrence of hailstorms and their possible impacts on fruit orchards. Mitigation strategies include anti-hail nets, cloud seeding, anti-hail guns, agrivoltaics and nanocomposites. Integrated management with chemicals and crop insurance is a viable post-hail management strategy.
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