scholarly journals Mechanization of Pruning, Canopy Management, and Harvest in Winegrape Vineyards

2021 ◽  
pp. catalyst.2021.20011
Author(s):  
S. Kaan Kurtural ◽  
Matthew W. Fidelibus
Keyword(s):  
Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1192
Author(s):  
Natalia Gutiérrez ◽  
Leyre López-de-Silanes ◽  
Carlos Escott ◽  
Iris Loira ◽  
Juan Manuel del Fresno ◽  
...  

Canopy management practices in vineyards, such as sprawling systems and shoot trimming, can change the accumulation of metabolites in grapes. The use of elicitors of biological origin on grapevines of Vitis vinifera red grape varieties may also modulate the chemical composition of the berries. These modifications are often observed in the accumulation of phenolic compounds, including pigments. Both technical approaches are alternatives involved in minimizing the effects of global climate change in warm areas. The increase of temperature related to climate change accelerates the accumulation of sugars, but produces unbalanced grapes. This work establishes the use of button sensors to monitor the climate changes occurring at grape cluster level. Together with climate monitoring, conventional instrumental analytical techniques are used to follow up the chemical composition and the phenolic fraction of grapes in four different production areas in Spain. The effect of either treatment seems variable and to be affected by external factors besides the treatment itself and the climate conditions. While there is a fine effect that correlates with the use of elicitors in varieties like Merlot and Tempranillo, there is minimal improvement observed in Tintilla de Rota. The total phenolic index increases were between 2.3% and 11.8% in the first two parcels. The same happened with the vineyard’s canopy management systems, with increased pigment accumulation and the total phenolic index rising (37.7% to 68.7%) after applying intense shoot trimming, or a variation in sugar concentrations when using sprawl conduction. This study aims to provide viticulturists and oenologists in particular, and farmers in general, with data on the field regarding the use of alternative sustainable practices in the cultivation of grapes. The techniques used involved 100% natural products without adjuvants. The benefits obtained from applying some of these practices would be to produce technically mature grapes despite climate changes, and the elaboration of more balanced wines.


2021 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-383
Author(s):  
P. Barman ◽  
◽  
R. Kumar ◽  
A.K. Pandey ◽  
◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 1565-1576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Long He ◽  
Yaqoob Majeed ◽  
Matthew David Whiting ◽  
Manoj Karkee ◽  
...  

Abstract. The state of Washington is the biggest fresh market apple ( Borkh.) producer in the U.S., and the state’s annual apple production has exceeded 60% of the national production. Due to the extensive labor requirements for harvesting fresh market apples, there is burgeoning demand for mechanical harvest solutions. Our transdisciplinary studies on mechanical harvest systems for apples have shown that fruit removal efficiency (FRE) with a vibratory system can be improved with precision canopy management. In this study, we evaluated the effect of precision pruning strategies on FRE in two groups (106 and 107, respectively) of randomly selected horizontal branches of ‘Jazz/M.9’ apple trees in a commercial orchard. Fruiting lateral branches were pruned to either shorter than 15 cm (guideline 1, G1) or 23 cm (guideline 2, G2). Harvest tests were conducted using a shake-and-catch harvester prototype developed by Washington State University with a fixed vibrating frequency of 20 Hz and shaking duration of 5 s. FRE for branches treated with G1 was significantly higher (91%) than FRE for branches treated with G2 (81%). We recorded a negative relationship between FRE and lateral shoot length. FRE was up to 98% when shoots were shorter than 5 cm, and FRE was only 56% for shoots of 25 cm or longer. We developed a shoot diameter-to-length index (S-index) to better understand the effect of shoot size on FRE. FRE was as high as 98% when the S-index was greater than 0.15. In addition, mechanically harvested fruit quality was assessed by categorizing the fruit into Extra Fancy, Fancy, and Downgrade fresh market classes based on USDA standards; however, no significant difference was found between the two treated groups. These results suggest that pruning lateral fruiting branches to less than 15 cm or to an S-index greater than 0.03 is required to achieve FRE of 85% with no negative impacts on fruit quality. Keywords: Canopy management, Fresh market fruit, Fruit removal efficiency, Mechanical harvest, Shoot pruning severity.


2020 ◽  
pp. 191-206
Author(s):  
B.M. van Hooijdonk ◽  
M.J. Oliver ◽  
R.N. Diack ◽  
D. Dayatilake ◽  
A.P. Friend ◽  
...  

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