NEWS
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Date : 11 march 2020
INSTITUTIONS COLLABORATING IN THE VITES QUALITAS PROJECT ARE STUDYING THE EFFECT OF THE TYPE OF SEAL ON PRUNING WOUNDS
Currently, wood diseases such as tinder and eutypiosis represent the biggest problem facing the world’s viticulture. In addition, in recent years, symptoms have been observed on increasingly younger vines. One of the premises evaluated in this project is that one of the causes that has been able to contribute to this rise has been the way in which the vineyard is currently pruned.
In Vites Qualitas, in order to analyse the different forms of pruning possible and their consequences on the incidence of wood diseases and the longevity of the vines, we wanted to try out different products for sealing the pruning wounds. The tests were carried out on adult vines in vineyards located in Spain and France, in accordance with the trans frontier principle of the project.
Figure 1. Application of treatments.
The aim of this activity is therefore to evaluate the degree of protection provided by the use of different materials to seal pruning wounds on fungi associated with wood diseases. To this end, in March 2020, technicians from the UPNA and CSIC-ICVV, and representatives of the Chambre d’Agriculture Pyrenées Atlantiques attended these vineyards, established the trial with the different treatments, and applied the sealing products, following the pruning carried out according to the methodology of these vineyards. The products used were products with or without physical/mastic barrier, and biocontrol agents. For each treatment, 2 shoots per vine were selected from the control stock and the cuts were protected with the corresponding product.
Figure 2. Treatment process for pruning wounds
Figure 3. Pruning in simple guyot with 2 thumbs, marking the treatments.