VINEPROTECT - Work Packages
Main objective: increase local vineyard resilience to both climate change (drought) and diseases, towards reducing the use of agrochemicals and boosting local circular agriculture.
WP1 - Harness local rhizosphere biodiversity to increase vineyards resilience to climate change.
Leader: UV-Elodie Vandelle
Objectives
•Gain knowledge of genetic biodiversity of the rhizosphere
•Reduce soil water-loss, soil-heating, enrich soil nutrition, and rhizosphere biodiversity through vegetative cover implementation (Clovers)
•Establish collections of PGPs and BCAs
WP2 - Local Plant Growth Promoter Bacteria to improve vineyards fertilization and resistance to drought.
Leader: UCA-Cherkaoui El Modafar
Objectives
•Search for PGP (improving nutrition availability and plants’ drought resistance)
•Characterize them (metabolomics)
•Upscale the process
WP3 - Local Trichoderma and derived formulations to improve disease resilience in vineyards.
Leader: UP-Conceição Santos
Co-leader: UP-Paulo Pinto
Objectives
•Search for Trichoderma to act against mildew diseases
•Characterize them (metabolomics)
•Compare efficiency with current agrochemicals
•Upscale the process
WP4 - Biobased hydrogels from waste plant material as water retainer and nutrient supplier.
Leader: UM-Yagmur Uysal
Objectives
•Increase vineyards’ soil water retention with bio-hydrogels (vines’ pruning waste).
•Transference of this technology to other terroirs and achieve, in a medium-longer term, the local production of these bio-hydrogels (circular-viticulture).
WP5 - Performance of Vineyards subjected to biological approaches aiming at grapevine protection and valorization in the Mediterranean region.
Leader: UTAD-Lia Dinis
Objectives
•Establish the best vineyard management practice (N-fixing plants, PGPs or bio-hydrogels) to improve vineyard’s resilience to drought.
WP6 - Socio-economic impacts of the operational-tool box on wine-chain value facing the climate changes.
Leader: UP-Conceição Santos
Co-leaders: UP-Cristiana Correia, João Prada
Objectives
•Get knowledge at: (1) socio-economic situation of the stakeholders;(2) practices used by growers; (3) awareness of the environmental and socio-economic advantages of clovers, PGP, BCA and bio-hydrogels.
•Impact and socio-economic benefits of the proposed solutions.
WP7 - Structure, Management and Communication.
Leader: UP-Conceição Santos
Co-leaders: João Prada, Nuno Mariz-Ponte
Objectives
•Ensure coordination of the activities, human and financial resources.
•Optimize integration between activities.
•Ensure the timely and appropriate reporting.
•Ensure quality and time management.
