A predictive model of spatial soil ECa variability in the vineyard to support the monitoring of plant status

In a vineyard, plant water status variability is strongly dependent on soil spatial variability, whose physical characteristics drive the processes involved in the soil water balance. The more the soil and its characteristics vary in space (horizontally and vertically), the less homogeneous the productive and qualitative response within the vineyard will be. In this context, the proximal sensing of apparent soil Electrical Conductivity (ECa) and its monitoring during the growing season can help understanding the nature of spatial variability of vineyard, supporting both viticultural microzoning (identifying Homogeneous and functional Homogeneous Zones, HZs and fHZs) and field experiments. In this contribution, the importance of use of ECa spatial monitoring during the grapevine growing season will be showed, highlighting its importance in the evaluation of the vineyard response and identification of FHZs.....