Grape Yield Research Articles

The efficiency of using small-volume spraying in chemical protection of grapes from diseases in the conditions of Crimea

The article presents the results of studies carried out in 2020-2021 in soil and climatic conditions of the Mountain-Valley viticultural zone of Crimea to determine the efficiency of small-volume spraying in pest control of industrial vineyards of wine grape variety ‘Muscat Rose’. In experimental variant, when using small-volume spraying, the amount of working solution and the rate of pesticide application were reduced (operations on the concentration of working solution). It was established that against the background of protective measures of grape plantings in experimental and example (full-volume spraying) variants, a low level of oidium development was observed: up to 1.3% on leaves, 1.1% on bunches; and of black rot - up to 1.2% on bunches. At the same time, there was no significant difference in the intensity and dynamics of disease development in these variants. It was experimentally determined that in the experiment, when using small-volume (200-250 l/ha) and full-volume (example, 400-800 l/ha) sprayings, a good conditional yield of wine grapes ‘Muscat Rose’ was obtained - 2.5-2.6 kg/bush (52.4-54.7 c/ha). The use of full-volume and small-volume sprayings on experimental plots did not have a negative effect on the process of sugar accumulation (25.1-25.5 g/100 cm3) and the level of titratable acids (6.0-6.2 g/dm3) in grape yield. Thus, in the course of studies, it was found that using of small-volume spraying made it possible to increase the productivity of sprayers and reduce the pesticide load on ampelocenosis.

IMPACT OF PINCHING, LATERAL SHOOTS REMOVAL AND DEFOLIATION ON GROWTH, YIELD AND BUNCH QUALITY OF AUTUMN CRISP GRAPEVINES

This inquiry was carried out for two consecutive seasons (2019 –2020) in a private vineyard located at El-Khatatba region, Monufyia Governorate, Egypt, to study the effect of pinching, lateral shoots removal and defoliation on growth, yield, and bunch quality of Autumn Crisp seedless grape. Seven treatments were carried out as follows: control, pinching the main shoots, lateral shoots removal, defoliation, pinching the main shoots + lateral shoots removal, pinching the main shoots + defoliation and lateral shoots removal + defoliation. Pinching the main shoots and lateral shoots removal treatments were applied just after fruit set stage, while basal defoliation treatment was applied at two weeks after fruit set stage. The results showed that all pinching, lateral shoots removal and defoliation treatments either alone or in combination among them had the best results in comparison with control in both seasons. In addition, pinching the main shoots + defoliation application achieved the best results in growth traits, carbohydrates %, nitrogen %, in canes, as well as improving the yield, physical and chemical characteristics of bunches and berries of Autumn Crisp grapevines in both seasons.

Status and management of grape anthracnose disease caused by Sphaceloma ampelinum (de Bary) Shear in Kashmir Valley

Grape anthracnose is economically an important disease of grapevine caused by Sphaceloma ampelinum (de Bary) Shear, that affects yield and quality of grapes. An extensive study on disease survey indicates that disease was frequent in all the three districts investigated. The overall disease incidence of 54.69 and 46.38 per cent and intensity of 24.70 and 27.09 per cent was observed in two consecutive years, respectively in main grape growing districts of Kashmir Valley. The maximum disease incidence of 58.84 per cent and intensity of 32.97 per cent was recorded in district Srinagar and minimum disease incidence of 42.41 and intensity of 18.83 per cent was observed in district Ganderbal. Among the different locations investigated, Shalimar of district Srinagar revealed the highest disease incidence (61.44%) and intensity (35.18%) and Repora of district Ganderbal revealed the lowest disease incidence (40.31%) and intensity (17.45%). Further, studies revealed that among the eighteen cultivars screened for disease reaction under natural epiphytotic conditions, cvs. Marroo, Himrod, Khalilli, Flame Beauty and Sonaka exhibited tolerance whereas, cvs. Manik chaman, Crimson seedless, Ararat and Hussaini were found moderately tolerant. Among the non-systemic fungitoxicants evaluated under in vitro conditions, chlorthalonil 75WP was found to be significantly more effective against the pathogen, whereas, zineb 75WP was found to be least efficient. Besides, among the systemic fungicides tested, hexaconazole 5EC was found to be significantly superior followed by carbendazim 50WP at all the concentrations.

Օրգանական մշակության պայմաններում աչքերով բեռնվածության ազդեցությունը խաղողի Սև Արենի սորտի աճի ու բերքատվության վրա Վայոց Ձորի մարզի Արենի համայնքում

The influence of the load of buds during organic cultivation on the growth and yield of Sev Areni grapes in the community of Areni Vayots Dzor was studied. The results of studies of growth, ripening of shoot, and the amount of yield allow us to recommend the optimal load of 40 buds for organic cultivation of Sev Areni grapes under the conditions of Vayots Dzor marz from the point of obtaining high-quality wine.

ПРОДУКТИВНОСТЬ НАСАЖДЕНИЙ И КАЧЕСТВО ВИНОПРОДУКЦИИ СОРТА ШАРДОНЕ ПРИ НЕКОРНЕВЫХ ПОДКОРМКАХ РАЗНЫМИ ГРУППАМИ ЭЛЕМЕНТОВ

The article presents the results of many years of research on the study of the effect of non-root preparations of various composition and system of influence on the grape plant. Investigating the technical variety of Chardonnay grapes, the main attention, along with the yield, was paid to the quality and organoleptic value of wine products from infertile soil areas. The objects of research were grapes and wine of the Chardonnay variety with variants of treatment with non-root preparations (Gumel Lux, Phylloton, Agrumax). The experience of studying the effect of foliar fertilizing on the productivity of the grape plant and the quality of wine was laid in the Anapa district on grape plantations grafted on the rootstock of Berlandieri x Riparia Kober 5BB 2006 planting according to the scheme of 3x1.5 meters, the formation of a double-shouldered cordon Kazenava. The results of research in 2019-2021 showed that the treatment of grape bushes growing on conditionally suitable soil with the studied preparations of non-root action had a positive effect on the yield and technological qualities of Chardonnay grapes. The best result in yield was given by the variants treated with Agrumax and Gumel Lux -9.7 and 9.4 kg/bush, respectively. Wine materials with variants of treatment with Gumel Lux and Phylloton preparations proved to be the most extractive in the experiment, which affected the taste qualities of these samples. According to the organoleptic parameters in the year of the study, a variant of wine material from grapes treated with Gumel Lux proved to be the best.

Soil and Leaf Mineral Element Contents in Mediterranean Vineyards: Bioaccumulation and Potential Soil Pollution

The study reported here concerns the geochemical distributions of macro- and trace elements (including potentially toxic elements, PTEs) in the vineyard soils of Alcubillas, which is one of the oldest, albeit not world-renowned, wine-growing areas in La Mancha (Central Spain). Soil and leaf samples were analyzed by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to ascertain the levels of various elements in the soil and the plant. The potential toxicity of the elements was assessed with regard to the development of the vineyard. Despite the fact that fertilizers and pesticides are employed in the vineyards in this area, the results showed that the levels of trace elements in the soil samples did not exceed the reference values according the pedogeochemical values for the region and Spain. This finding suggests that the study area is not polluted, and therefore, there are hardly any traces of anthropogenic contamination. The Biological Absorption Coefficient (BAC) was calculated to assess the assimilation of various elements from the soil to the leaves, and differences were found in the element absorption capacity of the vines. Some elements were not taken up by Vitis vinifera despite elements like Zr and Rb being present in relatively high concentrations in the soil. The production in these soils does not represent a threat to human health or the ecosystem, because the farmers in this area are extremely careful to preserve the environment and they only farm to achieve moderate yields of grapes per hectare.

Grape leaf disease detection based on attention mechanisms

Prevention and control of grape diseases is the key measure to ensure grape yield. In order to improve the precision of grape leaf disease detection, in this study, Squeeze-and-Excitation Networks (SE), Efficient Channel Attention (ECA), and Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM) attention mechanisms were introduced into Faster Region-based Convolutional Neural Networks (R-CNN), YOLOx, and single shot multibox detector (SSD), to enhance important features and weaken unrelated features and ensure the real-time performance of the model in improving its detection precision. The study showed that Faster R-CNN, YOLOx, and SSD models based on different attention mechanisms effectively enhanced the detection precision and operation speed of the models by slightly enhancing parameters. Optimal models among the three types of models were selected for comparison, and results showed that Faster R-CNN+SE had lower detection precision, YOLOx+ECA required the least parameters with the highest detection precision, and SSD+SE showed optimal real-time performance with relatively high detection precision. This study solved the problem of difficulty in grape leaf disease detection and provided a reference for the analysis of grape diseases and symptoms in automated agricultural production. Keywords: disease detection, Faster R-CNN, YOLOx, SSD, attention mechanism DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20221505.7548 Citation: Guo W J, Feng Q, Li X Z, Yang S, Yang J Q. Grape leaf disease detection based on attention mechanisms. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2022; 15(5): 205–212.

Effect of some nutrient, yeast spraying and girdling on yield and berry quality of Flame Seedless grape

Effect of some nutrient, yeast spraying and girdling on yield and berry quality of Flame Seedless grape

In vitro evaluation of grapevine endophytes, epiphytes and sap micro-organisms for potential use to control grapevine trunk disease pathogens

Grapevine trunk diseases (GTDs) threaten the economic sustainability of viticulture, causing reductions of yield and quality of grapes. Biological control is a promising sustainable alternative to cultural and chemical methods to mitigate the effects of pathogens causing GTDs, including Botryosphaeria dieback, Eutypa dieback and Esca. This study aimed to identify naturally occurring potential biological control agents from grapevine sap, cane and pith tissues, and evaluate their in vitro antagonistic activity against selected fungal GTD pathogens. Bacterial and fungal isolates were preliminarily screened in dual culture assays to determine their antifungal activity against Neofusicoccum parvum and Eutypa lata. Among the fungal isolates, Trichoderma spp. inhibited mycelium growth of E. lata by up to 64% and of N. parvum by up to 73%, with overgrowth and growth cessation being the likely antagonistic mechanisms. Among the bacterial isolates, Bacillus spp. inhibited mycelium growth of E. lata by up to 20% and of N. parvum by up to 40%. Selected antagonistic isolates of Trichoderma, Bacillus and Aureobasidium spp. were subjected to further dual culture antifungal analyses against Diplodia seriata and Diaporthe ampelina, with Trichoderma isolates consistently causing the greatest inhibition. Volatile organic compound antifungal analyses showed that these Trichoderma isolates inhibited mycelium growth of N. parvum (20% inhibition), E. lata (61% inhibition) and Dia. ampelina (71% inhibition). Multilocus sequence analyses revealed that the Trichoderma isolates were most closely related to Trichoderma asperellum and Trichoderma hamatum. This study had identified grapevine sap as a novel source of potential biological control agents for control of GTDs. Further testing will be necessary to fully characterize modes of antagonism of these microorganisms, and assess their efficacy for pruning wound protection in planta.

Assessment of the results of grape breeding with the application of biopreparations in the conditions of the Southern Urals

The results of long-term research on the creation of varieties and hybrid forms of early ripening grapes for the growing conditions of the Southern Urals are presented. It was shown that the created varieties and hybrid forms surpass the control in terms of yield by 17.7% (variety Aleshenkin Dar), 23.5% (hybrid form No. 37), 65.1% hybrid form 15-03-1 (Podarok Shatilova) and 111.9% (variety Pamyat Dombkovskoy). The biochemical properties of grapes were improved: the variety Pamyat Dombkovskoy exceeded the control in terms of vitamin C content by 15.42 mg / 100 g, hybrid form No. 37 - in terms of sugar content in berry juice by 19.2%. It is proved that the use of the biological product Samorod has a positive effect on the number of bunches formed on the bush, the mass of berries and the mass of the bunch, which leads to an increase in the yield of grapes: varieties Aleshenkin Dar by 54.0%, varieties Pamyat Dombkovskoy by 43.7%, hybrid form No. 37 by 66.4%, hybrid form Podarok Shatilova by 73.2%. Thanks to this, a high profitability of grape production is achieved, respectively, by varieties and hybrid forms of 92.0, 99.4, 106.0 and 159.0%, respectively.

Influence of crop load on the yield and grape quality of Merlot and Vranac (Vitis vinifera L.) varieties in Trebinje vineyard

The aim of this study was to study the impact of crop load on the yield and grape quality of ‘Merlot’ and ‘Vranac’ (Vitis vinifera L.) in Trebinje vineyard. The crop load levels studied in this trial were 9 buds (V1) and 12 buds (V2) per vine at each variety trained on Lenz-Moser bilateral cordon system. The impact was determined by measurements of yield per vine and grape quality characterized by the contents of total soluble solids, titratable acidity, total phenolics, total flavonoids and by total antioxidant capacity. The measured parameters of grape quality of ‘Merlot’ and ‘Vranac’ were not influenced significantly by crop load levels. V2, compared to the V1, showed the potential for increasing grape yield only for Merlot variety under experimental conditions. The results of this study also showed a positive correlation between total phenolics/flavonoids and total antioxidant capacity of grape berries in both varieties, regardless of crop loads applied.

Influence of agricultural techniques on yield and quality of grapes and wine

Under the conditions of changing biotic properties of terroir, it is relevant to establish the patterns of influence of different norms of the load of a grape bush in its own rooted and grafted culture on the quality of grapes, as well as the aesthetic and biological value of wine products in Russia. The objects of research were grapes and wine material of the Krasnostop AZOS variety in a grafted and rooted culture with variants of different load of shoots on the bush. The experience of studying the influence of various agrotechnical methods on the productivity of a grape plant and the quality of wine material was laid in the Anapo-Taman climatic zone of the Krasnodar Territory of Russia. The highest yield of the Krasnostop AZOS variety during the years of the study was obtained in the variant of own-rooted grape growing with its load of 36-40 shoots per bush. In our studies, there is a tendency to an increase in sugar content, and a decrease in the titratable acidity of grapes when growing vineyards of the Krasnostop AZOS variety in their own rooted culture. The most optimal ratio of sugar content and titratable acidity in the experiment was possessed by grapes from a variant of own-rooted culture with a load of 36-40 shoots/bush, here the glucoacedometric parameter was 4.36. In the studied variants, the largest amount of phenolic substances was found in wine material from self-rooted grapes with a load of 36-40 shoots per bush — 4130 mg/dm3. This had a positive effect on the organoleptic evaluation of this sample. The maximum total content of substances from a number of biologically active substances was found in wine from grape raw materials obtained from a grafted culture (134.9-147.9 mg/dm3). In 2018-2019, from the organoleptic side, wine materials from grapes of own-rooted culture proved to be of the highest quality. This advantage over the grafted crop was traced in all variants of rationing the load by the shoots of grape bushes.

A Multi-Source Data Fusion Decision-Making Method for Disease and Pest Detection of Grape Foliage Based on ShuffleNet V2

Disease and pest detection of grape foliage is essential for grape yield and quality. RGB image (RGBI), multispectral image (MSI), and thermal infrared image (TIRI) are widely used in the health detection of plants. In this study, we collected three types of grape foliage images with six common classes (anthracnose, downy mildew, leafhopper, mites, viral disease, and healthy) in the field. ShuffleNet V2 was used to build up detection models. According to the accuracy of RGBI, MSI, TIRI, and multi-source data concatenation (MDC) models, and a multi-source data fusion (MDF) decision-making method was proposed for improving the detection performance for grape foliage, aiming to enhance the decision-making for RGBI of grape foliage by fusing the MSI and TIRI. The results showed that 40% of the incorrect detection outputs were rectified using the MDF decision-making method. The overall accuracy of MDF model was 96.05%, which had improvements of 2.64%, 13.65%, and 27.79%, compared with the RGBI, MSI, and TIRI models using label smoothing, respectively. In addition, the MDF model was based on the lightweight network with 3.785 M total parameters and 0.362 G multiply-accumulate operations, which could be highly portable and easy to be applied.

How weed management influence plant community composition, taxonomic diversity and crop yield: A long-term study in a Mediterranean vineyard

Agricultural expansion and intensification is a major driver of biodiversity loss. Conventional weed management (e.g. tillage, herbicide) has encouraged the promotion of a few more competitive species over a wide range of arable plants that are now in decline. A reduction in plant diversity would negatively affect the provision of key ecosystem services in agroecosystems. In vineyards, the use of plant covers has emerged as the principal alternative to conventional weed management, providing multiple ecosystem services such as enhance biodiversity, but usually with a decrease in yields in Mediterranean vineyards. This long-term study assessed how weed management (herbicide, mowing, tillage) influenced plant community composition, taxonomic diversity and vineyard yield. Plant surveys and grape yield measurements were carried out from 2015 to 2018 in an experiment established in 2008. Effects on plant community composition were analysed, focusing on two groups: noxious grapevine weeds and terophytic grassland species. In addition, three fundamental components of taxonomic diversity were measured: β-diversity, evenness and species richness. Linear mixed models and generalised linear mixed model were used to examine the response of different variables to weed management. Position (row, inter-row) as well as the indirect effect of adjacent management on the subplots were also included as fixed factors. Furthermore, the percentage of bare soil, related to disturbance degree associated with management, was explored as a potential predictor of taxonomic diversity and vineyard yield. Results indicated that plant community composition was affected by weed management and to a lesser extent by position. Noxious grapevine weeds were more abundant in herbicide-sprayed rows, while terophytic grasslands species showed a higher presence in mown subplots. Weed management had a strong effect on bare soil, which proved to be a good predictor of the variables studied. Indeed, the highest species richness were associated with the lowest percentages of bare soil (mown subplots), while the lowest values were found at high percentages of bare soil (tilled subplots). Herbicide showed intermediate values, with a response dependent on adjacent management. On the other hand, vineyard yields were higher with increased bare soil, although with the consequent loss of species richness. Conversely, mowing in spontaneous plant covers caused a decrease in yield, but still production was within the maximum limit established by the Regulatory Council, while increasing the species richness and a significant presence of therophytic grasslands species. These findings could foster the development of more sustainable management in Mediterranean vineyards.

Grapes drip irrigation regimes and their efciency

The influence of drip irrigation regimes on the yield of Rkatsiteli grapes, the efciency of irrigation water use, the formation of costs of natural, fnancial and energy resources in the South of Ukraine has been studied. The results of the study confrmed that the yield of grapes is not proportional to the consumption of irrigation water, but depends on the level of moisture in the local soil volume in the most important phases of development. It was found out that plants unimpeded water consumption during the entire growing season requires maximum (within 1134 m3/ha)irrigation water consumption and resources to ensure a high level of irrigation soil moisture, while plant yields increased by only 45–47 % compared to non-irrigated control. The regime of soil moisture during the frst half of the growing season did not have a signifcant effect on the number of fruit shoots that are indicators of their fertility. The most signifcant influence of moisture availability thresholds of the active layer of soil was manifested in the process of berry harvest formation. The total effect of the interaction of factors such as high soil moisture, more fruit shoots, their high fruiting and high average weight of the bunch provided the highest yield of grapes, which amounted to 11.3– 11.7 t/ha, or 47.4 % more than with a control area. In the conditions of the economical irrigation regime, at the level of 100–70 % of HB during the whole period of vegetation of plants, the average yield of berries was 10.7 t/ha, which exceeds by 37.1 % similar indicators of the control area. A detailed analysis of the results of the experiment shows that the irrigation regime differently affects the effciency of the main resource-irrigation water, the cost of which for the formation of 1 ton of berries with unimpeded moisture (100–80 % HB), during the growing season, is 476 m3/t. The most economically used irrigation water in the economical irrigation mode at the level of 100–70 % HB reduces the specifc water consumption to 266 m3/t. In the area of this variant, the yield of berries was 10.5 t/ha, ie decreased by 8.6 %, while the specifc water consumption decreased by 38.3 %, compared with similar indicators of the area with unimpeded inflow of moisture. Key words: grapes, Rkatsiteli, drip irrigation, berry yield, irrigation regime, moisture defciency, irrigation water.

'Pinore': The New Red Wine Variety Cross-Bred between 'Pinot Noir' and 'Regent' Vines.

Renewed interest in varieties that are more tolerant to diseases has emerged, which is mainly due to increased awareness by producers and consumers regarding the impact of phytochemicals in the environment. This paper describes the first Slovenian grapevine variety ‘Pinore’ crossed between the Vitis vinifera L. ‘Pinot Noir’ clone Mf and ‘Regent’ vines. The aim was to create an early ripening grape cultivar that has a good tolerance to biotic stress (e.g., downy and powdery mildew, botrytis) combined with the benefits of established cultivars and their intense wine colors. Some ampelographic characteristics of young shoots, mature leaves, bunches, and berries are presented, and its major agronomic traits, ripening time, grape yield, quality performances, and disease resistance were evaluated over a three-year period (2014–2017). Wine sensory analyses were performed and compared with the international variety ‘Pinot Noir’. The examined genotype showed good agronomic performance and a high wine quality as far as the content of polyphenols is concerned, especially in terms of anthocyanins and tolerance to diseases (Ren3/9 and Rpv3.1); it is significantly different compared to the reference variety ‘Pinot Noir’. In terms of ampelographic characteristics, the main differences are in the number of leaf lobes, the depth of the lateral sinuses, and the content of anthocyanins in its flesh. The investigated genotype has been proposed to the Committee of new varieties in Slovenia for the variety recognition procedure, and completion of the procedure planned for the end of 2023.

Endophytic Fusarium spp. affect yield, but can they be a solution for Botrytis control in vineyard production?

Vitis vinifera (grapevines) can form mutualistic associations with endophytic fungi. However, to date, there is not much information on the influence of endophytic Fusarium isolates on grapevine growth, oenological characteristics or their capabilities to suppress disease. In the present study, it was demonstrated on two grapevine varieties, in a field experiment, under natural conditions, that three isolates of Fusarium do indeed enter into mutualistic interactions with grapevines. Results indicate a complementary relationship between grape yield and Fusarium colonization. Plants treated with Fusarium isolates not only showed increased yield, but also had fewer losses due to shriveling and also had more robust development under unfavorable weather conditions. Furthermore, treatment with isolates of Fusarium solani and Fusarium subglutinans resulted in significantly lower gray mold incidence at rates of 80%.

Development of agro-climatic grape yield model for Nashik region, Maharashtra, India

Prediction of the crop yield is need of time according to the change in climate conditions. In the present study, the Agro-Climatic Grape Yield (ACGY) model has been developed with monthly climatic parameters using multi-regression analysis approach. The developed model was statistically tested for its predictive ability. The discrepancy ratio, the standard deviation of discrepancy ratio, mean percentage error and standard deviation of mean percentage error for the model was obtained as 1.03, 0.19, 0.03% and 0.19, respectively. Sensitivity analysis was carried out for the developed ACGY model using the parametric sensitivity method. In order to know the future grape yield using ACGY model, climate scenarios were generated under Canadian Earth System Model (CanESM2) for three emissions representative concentration pathways as RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5. According to the analysis using ACGY model, increasing yield was observed in grape up to year 2050 as compared to current yield.

Simulated Particle and Vapor Drift of Dicamba to ‘Vidal blanc’ Hybrid Grapevine under Missouri Field Conditions

The increasing adoption of dicamba-tolerant soybean (Glycine max) increases the potential exposure of wine grape (Vitis sp.) to dicamba, to which off-target injury may occur via particle drift or vapor drift. In Missouri, at one site in 2017 and at two sites in 2018, research of production vineyards focused on the effects of dicamba on hybrid ‘Vidal blanc’ grapevines. During flowering and early fruit set, bearing grapevines were exposed to low rates of dicamba delivered as a spray solution of 81 or 161 ppm or by vapor from treated soil. Grapevines were highly sensitive to dicamba, and visible symptoms extended throughout the growing season. The severity of dicamba injury (leaf cupping and feathering) was similar at two of three site-years, with greater injury related to particle drift than to vapor drift of dicamba. Early-season injury resulted in dicamba impacting the total soluble solids (TSS) content of grape berries and grape yield. At harvest during two site-years, yield reductions of up to 45% were associated with dicamba exposure at flowering. Across all site-years, no significant effects of dicamba drift were observed in the TSS content of berries during veraison in August, as measured by refractometer. However, the final TSS content of berries at harvest in September was reduced by 12% from dicamba as particle drift. At a minimum detection level of 10 ng⋅mL−1, high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry identified dicamba at levels up to 33 ng⋅mL−1 in grape must over all site-years. Unexpectedly, this was up to 125 d after grapevine exposure despite low levels of visible dicamba symptomology.

Multiple Effects of Nitrogen Fertilization on Grape Vegetative Growth, Berry Quality and Pest Development in Mediterranean Vineyards

Nitrogen is a key macronutrient for the quantitative and qualitative yield of grapes; in addition, it influences the development and reproduction of grape pests. The multiple effects of different nitrogen rates were investigated on the red berry cultivar ‘Carignano’ and the grape pest Planococcus ficus in a two-year field trial. Different amounts of ammonium nitrate were compared: 0, 80 and 160 Units ha−1 for mineral nitrogen. The amount of nitrogen fertilization supplied influenced the nitrogen status of vines and increased the pruning weight and leaf area, as well as the overall grape yield, by increasing the cluster weight. However, doubling the nitrogen rate did not generally increase the vegetative and productive parameters of grapevines. At harvest, nitrogen supply did not influence the anthocyanin content, tritatable acidity, and soluble solids, although the latter parameter showed a clear, yet not significant, decreasing trend. Planococcus ficus exhibited higher fecundity, survival and shorter development time on grapevines provided with nitrogen, whereas its fertility was unaffected by nitrogen fertilization. Ultimately, nitrogen had a direct and positive effect on grape yield and vine mealybug development, highlighting the importance of integrated cultural and pest control practices to promote grape production.