PNRR per la Missione 4, Componente 2, Investimento 1.1 - Avviso 104/2022 - Prot. 20229E8S9A - CUP J53D23009780001 - Finanziato dall'Unione Europea Next Generation EU

The UNDER-VINE project aims to identify new successful vineyard soil management approaches to prevent negative effects of climate change based on the sow of cover crops to be grown during winter months and the use of their biomass to prevent water loss and occurrence of summer stress. The objective of the project is to find innovative soil management techniques capable of:

1. preserving soil from degradation process during wet season;
2. tuning competition between vines and vineyard floor vegetation;
3. reducing incidence of water stress during summer months;
4. improving vineyard sustainability.

The project includes two experimental vineyards representative of two distinct productive systems: non-irrigated hilly steep-slope viticulture in Oltrepò Pavese and irrigated high yielding vineyards in Romagna. With a multidisciplinary approach, partners will explore soil science and plant physiology backgrounds of the establishment of different complex cover crops botanical mixtures. The biomass will be used under different innovative approaches with specific machinery to improve soil features and water withholding capability. In detail, green manure, inter-row organic mulching and under-row organic mulching will be compared to local standards as Controls. Emphasis will be given to under-row management to identify the best strategy to avoid the use of herbicides and reduce water losses.  Differences on monitored soil water content temporal trends due to soil management will be evaluated to identify which practices can reduce water stress incidence in dry and hot periods. Land degradation processes (soil erosion, shallow landslides) will be monitored to evaluate which treatment can reduce their occurrence. A physically-based hydrological-stability model will be calibrated through the soil monitoring datasets, for simulating soil water content trends and processes of land degradation in other possible meteorological conditions, for current climatic scenario and for future climatic predictions. Then, cover crops above-ground and below-ground growth, water use, and competition dynamics will be evaluated until the final use of the biomass produced. In the meanwhile, vineyard physiological functioning and water use efficiency will be periodically monitored during the season before and after cover crops management. Finally, berry ripening and vineyard productive traits will be evaluated and linked to soil water balance, nutrients availability, cover crops competition and vine physiological performances.

General hypothesis of the project is that cover crops botany, competitive actions and biomass production determine their optimal objective and use efficacy. Proposing innovative management based on complex specific cover crops biomass use to prevent land degradation and to preserve water in summer months can be a promising approach to optimize vineyard resilience to climate change and to improve viticulture sustainability.

Working group:

• Tommaso Frioni - Responsabile scientifico UCSC
• Michelangelo Palombelli

Partners:

• Università degli Studi di Bologna
• Università degli Studi di Pavia