Integrating uavs and canopy height models in vineyard management: A time-space approach

The present study illustrates an operational approach estimating individual and aggregate vineyards’ canopy volume estimation through three years Tree-Row-Volume (TRV) measurements and remotely sensed imagery acquired with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Red-Green-Blue (RGB) digital camera, processed with MATLAB scripts, and validated through ArcGIS tools. The TRV methodology was applied by sampling a different number of rows and plants (per row) each year with the aim of evaluating reliability and accuracy of this technique compared with a remote approach. The empirical results indicate that the estimated tree-row-volumes derived from a UAV Canopy Height Model (CHM) are up to 50% different from those measured on the field using the routinary technique of TRV in 2019. The difference is even much higher in the two 2016 dates. These empirical findings outline the importance of data integration among techniques that mix proximal and remote sensing in routine vineyards’ agronomic practices, helping to reduce management costs and increase the environmental sustainability of traditional cultivation systems

intra varietal agronomical variability in vitis vinifera l cv cannonau investigated by fluorescence texture and colorimetric analysis

To date, innovative, rapid and non-invasive techniques have been used to assess variations in morphological and technological characteristics between grape cultivars. In order to improve knowledge of the qualitative expression of the genetic traits of cv. Cannonau (syn. Grenache), fluorescence, texture and colorimetric analyses were performed on 85 biotypes attributable to this variety. Eighty-five Cannonau biotypes cultivated in the same vineyard were analysed in order to evaluate their morphological and agronomical characteristics. As regards the morphological traits, of the six descriptors observed, five were able to discriminate the Cannonau population according to different expression levels. Must composition, berry colour (using the Minolta tristimulus colorimeter), texture (assessed using the TaxT2i plus texturimeter) and fluorescence (using the Multiplex III detector) were determined on clusters harvested at the same time. Cluster analysis was able to separate the Cannonau population into five groups, characterised by differences in the following criteria: L*, a* and b*, berry skin thickness, FERARI, TSS, pH and titratable acidity, total polyphenols and total anthocyanins. The FERARI index was highly and positively correlated with total anthocyanins and negatively correlated with grape colour, while berry weight and berry skin thickness were not correlated with any variable assessed. The remarkable intra-variability encountered for the qualitative and quantitative characters in the Cannonau variety suggests that new biotypes could be selected for different oenological purposes, using techniques such as the measure of fluorescence and colorimetry. This is the first study carried out within the cv. Cannonau using innovative and classical techniques suitable to investigate intra-varietal variability

NMR Analysis of Seven Selections of Vermentino Grape Berry: Metabolites Composition and Development

The goal of this work was to study via NMR the unaltered metabolic profile of Sardinian Vermentino grape berry. Seven selections of Vermentino were harvested from the same vineyard. Berries were stored and extracted following an unbiased extraction protocol. Extracts were analyzed to investigate variability in metabolites concentration as a function of the clone, the position of berries in the bunch or growing area within the vineyard. Quantitative NMR and statistical analysis (PCA, correlation analysis, Anova) of the experimental data point out that, among the investigated sources of variation, the position of the berries within the bunch mainly influences the metabolic profile of berries, while the metabolic profile does not seem to be significantly influenced by growing area and clone. Significant variability of the amino acids such as arginine, proline, and organic acids (malic and citric) characterizes the rapid rearrangements of the metabolic profile in response to environmental stimuli. Finally, an application is described on the analysis of metabolite variation throughout the physiological development of berries

Effect of Human Natural Killer and gammadelta T Cells on the Growth of Human Atologous Melanoma Xenografts in SCID Mice.

Natural killer (NK) cells were first identified for their ability to kill tumor cells of different origin in vitro. Similarly, gammadelta T lymphocytes display strong cytotoxic activity against various tumor cell lines. However, the ability of both the NK and gammadelta cells to mediate natural immune response against human malignant tumors in vivo is still poorly defined. Severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice have been successfully engrafted with human tumors. In this study, the antitumor effect of local as well as of systemic treatments based on NK cells or Vdelta1 or Vdelta2 gamma/delta T lymphocytes against autologous melanoma cells was investigated in vivo. The results show that all three of the populations were effective in preventing growth of autologous human melanomas when both tumor and lymphoid cells were s.c. inoculated at the same site. However, when lymphoid cells were infused i.v., only NK cells and Vdelta1 gamma/delta T lymphocytes could either prevent or inhibit the s.c. growth of autologous melanoma. Accordingly, both NK cells and Vdelta1 gammadelta T lymphocytes could be detected at the s.c. tumor site. In contrast, Vdelta2 gammadelta T lymphocytes were only detectable in the spleen of the SCID mice. Moreover, NK cells maintained their inhibitory effect on tumor growth even after discontinuation of the treatment. Indeed they were present at the tumor site for a longer period. These data support the possibility to exploit NK cells and Vdelta1 gammadelta T lymphocytes in tumor immunotherapy. Moreover, our study emphasizes the usefulness of human tumor/SCID mouse models for preclinical evaluation of immunotherapy protocols against human tumors

Status and prospects of systems biology in grapevine research

The cultivated grapevine, Vitis vinifera L., has gathered a vast amount of omics data throughout the last two decades, driving the imperative use of computational resources for its analysis and integration. Molecular systems biology arises from this need allowing to model and predict the emergence of phenotypes or responses in biological systems. Beyond single omics networks, integrative approaches associate the molecular components of an organism and combine them into higher order networks to model dynamic behaviors. Application of network-based methods in multi-omics data is providing additional resources to address important questions regarding grapevine fruit quality and composition. Here, we review the recent history of systems biology in this species. We highlight the most relevant aspects of the discipline and describe important integrative studies that have helped in the global understanding of how this species responds to the environment and how it triggers the fruit ripening developmental program. We also highlight the latest resources that are available for the grapevine community to exploit and take advantage of all the omics data that is being generated.This work was supported by Grant PGC2018-099449-A-I00 and by the Ramón y Cajal program grant RYC-2017-23645, both awarded to J.T.M. from the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MCIU, Spain), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI, Spain), and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, European Union).Peer reviewe

Genetic and Genomic Approaches for Adaptation of Grapevine to Climate Change

The necessity to adapt to climate change is even stronger for grapevine than for other crops, because grape berry composition—a key determinant of fruit and wine quality, typicity and market value— highly depends on “terroir” (complete natural environment), on vintage (annual climate variability), and on their interactions. In the same time, there is a strong demand to reduce the use of pesticides. Thus, the equation that breeders and grape growers must solve has three entries that cannot be dissociated: adaptation to climate change, reduction of pesticides, and maintenance of wine typicity. Although vineyard management may cope to some extent to the short–medium-term effects of climate change, genetic improvement is necessary to provide long-term sustainable solutions to these problems. Most vineyards over the world are planted using vines that harbor two grafted plants’ genomes. Although this makes the range of interactions (scion-atmosphere, rootstock-soil, scion-rootstock) more complex, it also opens up wider possibilities for the genetic improvement of either or both the grafted genotypes. Positive aspects related to grapevine breeding are as follows: (a) a wide genetic diversity of rootstocks and scions that has not been thoroughly explored yet; (b) progress in sequencing technologies that allows high-throughput sequencing of entire genomes, faster mapping of targeted traits and easier determination of genetic relationships; (c) progress in new breeding technologies that potentially permit precise modifications on resident genes; (d) automation of phenotyping that allows faster and more complete monitoring of many traits on relatively large plant populations; (e) functional characterization of an increasing number of genes involved in the control of development, berry metabolism, disease resistance, and adaptation to environment. Difficulties involve: (a) the perennial nature and the large size of the plant that makes field testing long and demanding in manpower; (b) the low efficiency of transformation, regeneration and small size of breeding populations; (c) the complexity of the adaptive traits and the need to define more clearly future ideotypes; (d) the lack of shared and integrative platforms allowing a complete appraisal of the genotype-phenotype-environmental links; (e) legal, market and consumer acceptance of new genotypes. The present chapter provides an overview of suitable strategies and challenges linked to the adaptation of viticulture to a changing environment