The Wood Index: An Innovative Index for Determining Vine Vigour

Precision farming makes it possible to direct management strategies in relation to the actual needs of crops. This farming management technique, also described as Variable Rate Technology (VRT), works by acquiring images that show the shape, size and vigour of various crops. The images can be obtained using different technologies, such as remote sensing and proximal sensing. Precision farming has been already applied in viticulture for chemical fertilisation management, but it has never been applied to organic fertilisation in this farming sector. In the context of the LIFE VITISOM Project, an innovative VRT technology was designed and validated to manage the organic fertilisation of vineyards. This made it necessary to introduce a system for mapping the vigour of woody branches in the absence of vegetation. In viticulture, organic fertilisation is indeed usually carried out in spring or autumn, when all leaf coverage is commonly absent. With this scope, an innovative index for the quantification of vine vigour (WI-Wood Index) was introduced. The WI has been implemented in the context of the existing MECS-VINE sensor to obtain MECSWOOD reading mode. This case study aims to describe the WI, its assessment and validation, during two phases of vigour map acquisition in 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 in five different Italian viticultural contexts, over a total monitored surface area of 260 ha. The results obtained from this experience made it possible to confirm the accuracy of the WI in quantifying vine vigour. Data to be collected during the final phase in 2019/2020 will allow us to further confirm these results.