Launch of the IN+VITE project

On February 7, 2022, the IN+VITE project, financed by Measure 16.1.01 Focus Area 4B of the 2014-2020 Emilia-Romagna RDP, started. The project involves 6 Italian partners and is coordinated by the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Piacenza. The main objective is to develop new vineyard management systems that can solve some of the most important problems of hillside viticulture in Emilia:

• The negative effects of water shortage in the vineyard at the growing stage and in the productive vineyard
• The low efficacy and high cost of organic and mineral nitrogen fertilization and the loss of nitrate nitrogen to surface water bodies
• Copper accumulation phenomena in the soil, due to the low persistence of covering phytosanitary plant protection products on canopies and the high frequency of their application in defense programs

The overall objective of the task group is to test the effectiveness of highly innovative management systems that can maximize the effectiveness of external inputs while drastically reducing the doses used.

The project proposes a series of actions aimed at:

• Developing a protocol for the use of hydrogels in viticulture in order to improve the tolerance of the non-irrigated vineyard to water shortage, reduce vine collapse at planting, anticipate entry into production, and contain yield losses in the aged vineyard
• Development of a new fertilization protocol, with reference to both integrated production (mineral fertilizers) and organic viticulture (organic fertilizers), that can reduce applied nitrogen doses, maximize efficacy, and minimize nitrogen losses to surface and deep water bodies
• Valutazione di co-formulanti di origine naturale in grado di massimizzare la permanenza dei trattamenti fogliari sulle chiome e ridurre i fenomeni di accumulo di rame nel suolo
• Evaluation of co-formulants of natural origin that can maximize the permanence of foliar treatments on canopies and reduce copper accumulation in the soil

We invite you to follow all the news of the Operations Group on the official website and the project's facebook page.