Abstract
Modern viticulture cannot be practiced without the use of plant protection products to control diseases like downy mildew, powdery mildew, and pests. In severely sloping vineyards, where mechanization is not possible, pesticide application is realized using spray guns, which is a laborious, expensive, and dangerous application technique. In these vineyards, where viticulture is defined as “heroic viticulture,” vine-growers could seriously take advantage of innovation in spray-technique applications. For this reason, several prototypes of a fixed spraying system (FSS) were realized in recent years. Two prototypes of a fixed spraying system were built in 2019 in two different vineyards in the Veneto region (north-eastern Italy). In both vineyards, the fixed spraying systems were used to perform pesticide application during the 2020 season to control downy mildew, powdery mildew, and pests. With this solution, both vineyards were successfully protected, resulting in comparable infection degrees and yields as the ones protected with airblast sprayers and spray guns. This study contributes to assert fixed spraying systems as an innovation that could improve working conditions, safety, timing, and performances of plant protection products’ application in heroic viticulture areas.
Highlights
And mountain viticulture present greater difficulties and costs of cultivation than plain viticulture
The incidence and severity obtained by sampling the four plots for each spray application technique were analyzed with the Kruskal–Wallis test
The comparison was made between fixed spraying system (FSS), SG, and UTC
Summary
And mountain viticulture present greater difficulties and costs of cultivation than plain viticulture. In Italy, according to the last census of agriculture, the area planted with vineyards in hilly and mountainous areas amounts to 357,000 and 35,800 ha, respectively, representing about 64% of the national area In most of these vineyards, the cultivation is mechanized, and the production costs are just slightly higher than plain viticulture ones. Viticulture [1]: heroic viticulture This term applies to vine growing occurring on slopes greater than 30%, in vineyards above 500 m a.s.l. (excluding highlands), or in vineyards on terraces In such contexts, the cultivation is hardly mechanizable, and the production cost of the grape is higher, as the majority of growing activities are carried out by hand following traditional agricultural practices
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