Multisensor Analysis for Biostimulants Effect Detection in Sustainable Viticulture

Alberto Sassu, Alessandro Deidda, Luca Mercenaro, Beatrice Virgillito and Filippo Gambella ()
Additional contact information
Alberto Sassu: Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sassari, Viale Italia 39 a, 07100 Sassari, Italy
Alessandro Deidda: Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sassari, Viale Italia 39 a, 07100 Sassari, Italy
Luca Mercenaro: Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sassari, Viale Italia 39 a, 07100 Sassari, Italy
Beatrice Virgillito: Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sassari, Viale Italia 39 a, 07100 Sassari, Italy
Filippo Gambella: Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sassari, Viale Italia 39 a, 07100 Sassari, Italy

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-21

Abstract: Biostimulants are organic agents employed for crop yield enhancement, quality improvement, and environmental stress mitigation, reducing, at the same time, reliance on inorganic inputs. With advancements in sustainable agriculture, data acquisition technologies have become crucial for monitoring the effects of such inputs. This study evaluates the impact of four increasing rates of Biopromoter biostimulant application on grapevines: 0, 100 g plant −1 , 100 g plant −1 with additional foliar fertilizers, and 150 g plant −1 with additional foliar fertilizers. The biostimulant was applied via foliar or ground methods, and its effects were assessed using vegetation indices derived from unmanned aerial systems (UAS), as well as proximal and manual sensing tools, alongside qualitative and quantitative production metrics. The research was conducted over two seasons in a Malvasia Bianca vineyard in Sardinia, Italy. Results indicated that UAS-derived vegetation indices, consistent with traditional ground-based measurements, effectively monitored vegetative growth over time but revealed no significant differences between treatments, suggesting either an insufficient vegetative indices sensitivity or that the applied biostimulant rates were insufficient to elicit a measurable response in the cultivar. Among the tools employed, only the SPAD 502 m demonstrated the sensitivity required to detect treatment differences, primarily reflected in grape production outcomes, especially in the second year and in the two groups managed with the highest amounts of biostimulants distributed by foliar and soil application. The use of biostimulants promoted, although only in the second year, a greener canopy and higher productivity in treatments where it was delivered to the soil. Further agronomic experiments are required to improve knowledge about biostimulants’ composition and mode of action, which are essential to increasing their effectiveness against specific abiotic stresses. Future research will focus on validating these technologies for precision viticulture, particularly concerning the long-term benefits.

Keywords: proximal sensing; remote sensing; unmanned aerial system; UAV; precision viticulture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/12/2221/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/12/2221/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:12:p:2221-:d:1537298

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().