Test of ground-sensing devices for monitoring canopy vigour and downy mildew presence in vineyards: first qualitative results

This paper considers the possibility to use ground sensing technologies that can be employed directly in vineyards. The aim of this work is to evaluate contemporarely the canopy health and vigour status of vines through the use of a mobile monitoring system; this, in order to investigate the possibility to realize a pathological diagnosis in vineyards. To achieve this objective optical and analogue devices were tested: a) GreenSeeker RT100, a commercial optical device calculating NDVI in real time; b) ultrasonic sensors for canopy thickness estimation. A DGPS receiver was employed for geo-reference data collected while travelling in the vineyards. Tests were conducted in a commercial vineyard which included rows treated and non-treated with agrochemicals. Data coming from the automatic monitoring were compared to manual morphological and physiological observations carried out to characterize the phytosanitary status of the canopy. Optical data were processed in order to obtain NDVI maps. They clearly showed differences in canopy vigour evolution in the two examined groups, and low vegetative vigour in areas infected by Plasmopara viticola (as confirmed by manual assessment). Maps of percentage infection index (I%I) were produced according to pathological manual survey results. The comparison between I%I and NDVI maps confirmed, at a qualitative level, the real vine phytosanitary status. The integration of UCT and NDVI values allows the identification of diseased vineyard areas among zones presenting critical vegetation conditions.