Wines & Vines

grapegrowing Infrared thermography applied to vineyards has been proposed as a tool to estimate plant water status since 2002.16,19,20 Some research has also focused on the use of IR to assess the incidence of diseases in grapevines.21 However, the bottleneck of this technique was the lack of automated infrared thermal image analysis programs. The Australian VOF group proposed an automated analysis method to assess plant water status (Figure 3) that can be applied to analyze changes within canopies due to environmental factors, disease incidence6 or smoke contamination from bushfires.6 This new analysis method can be used on images and videos obtained from an unmanned aerial vehicle such as octocopters being tested by the Chilean arm of the VOF (Figure 4). Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy Soil Soil Moisture Moisture (mm) (mm) -10-10 -15-15 -20-20 -25-25 -30-30 -35-35 -40-40 -45-45 -50-50 10 10 2030 30 40 40 50 5060 60 70 70 80 8090 90100 20 100 AA 27 27 25 25 22 22 20 20 17 17 15 15 10 10 8 8 5 5 0 0 -10-10 -15-15 -20-20 -25-25 -30-30 -35-35 -40-40 -45-45 -50-50 10 10 2030 30 40 40 50 5060 60 70 70 80 8090 90100 20 100 27 27 25 25 22 22 20 20 17 17 15 15 10 10 8 8 5 5 0 0 -10-10 -15-15 -20-20 -25-25 -30-30 -35-35 -40-40 -45-45 -50-50 10 10 2030 30 40 40 50 5060 60 70 70 80 8090 90100 20 100 27 27 25 25 22 22 20 20 17 17 15 15 10 10 8 8 5 5 0 0 BB CC Distance from vine (cm) Distance from vine (cm) Drip (E-W) Drip (E-W) Soil Soil Moisture Moisture (mm) (mm) -10-10 -15-15 -20-20 -25-25 -30-30 -35-35 -40-40 -45-45 -50-50 -50-50 -40-30-30 -20 -10 0 0 10 10 20 2030 30 4050 50 -40 -20 -10 40 DD Soil Depth (cm) Soil Depth (cm) New plant-based technologies and techniques Infrared thermography and automated analysis Drip (N-S) Drip (N-S) Soil Depth (cm) Soil Depth (cm) (Figure 2) within the root zone.5,10,11 This tool has recently been incorporated into the Irrimax software from Sentek Pty. Ltd. Australia (capacitance soil moisture and salinity probes). The software will be presented and released in late 2013 and will help growers target irrigation and fertigation to areas within the root zone of maximum water and nutrient uptake, avoiding excessive irrigation and loss of fertilizer for more economically and environmentally efficient management. 27 27 25 25 22 22 20 20 17 17 15 15 10 10 8 8 5 5 0 0 -10-10 -15-15 -20-20 -25-25 -30-30 -35-35 -40-40 -45-45 -50-50 -50-50 -40-30-30 -20 -10 0 0 10 10 20 2030 30 4050 50 -40 -20 -10 40 27 27 25 25 22 22 20 20 17 17 15 15 10 10 8 8 5 5 0 0 -10-10 -15-15 -20-20 -25-25 -30-30 -35-35 -40-40 -45-45 -50-50 -50-50 -40-30-30 -20 -10 0 0 10 10 20 2030 30 4050 50 -40 -20 -10 40 27 27 25 25 22 22 20 20 17 17 15 15 10 10 8 8 5 5 0 0 EE FF Distance from vine (cm) Distance from vine (cm) Figure 2. These snapshots were taken at the beginning (A and D); middle (B and E) and end (C and F) of an irrigation event (five hours) of surface drip using WPA. The distance in A, B and C is from the vine trunk (inter-plant) and for D, E and F is from the emitter (inter-row). The red triangle shows the position of the drip. Image modified from Fuentes et al. 2006. The University of Adelaide has demonstrated that grapevine water status can be measured non-destructively using near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy techniques. The Australian VOF combined NIR spectra of leaves (in which the regions around 1200 nm, 1450 nm and 1930 nm are associated with the presence ScareWindmill To birds windmill looks like a flock of birds taking off in fright. Figure 3. Infrared thermal image (left) from a grapevine canopy and automated non-leaf material discrimination technique (right) proposed by Fuentes et al. in 2012.6,7 Improved double bearing for longer life. 36" dia. blades that repel birds in up to a two acre area. Effective for birds in vineyards, fruit trees, and blueberries. Effective on wild turkeys. 30 day unconditional money back guarantee. $79 JWB Marketing To order call:(800) 555-9634 www.birddamage.com 70 p r acti c al w i ne ry & v i n e yard august 20 13 Figure 4. Infrared thermal and hyperspectral cameras mounted on an octocopter at the Chilean VOF.

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