Nataliya Shcherbatyuk, Patricia Skinkis, Terry Bates, Manoj Karkee, and Markus Keller*
*WSU, Prosser IAREC, 24106 N. Bunn Rd., Prosser, WA, 99350 (mkeller@wsu.edu)

Vineyard nutrient management is essential to maintain vine health, productivity, and fruit quality targets. However, conventional vine tissue methods are labor intensive, costly, lack standardization, and lack the ability to describe nutrient status spatially across vineyards. Our interdisciplinary team is refining tissue sampling techniques and creating decision-support remote-sensing tools for real-time assessment of vineyard nutrient status. The project has four objectives: 1) develop non-destructive tools to measure grapevine nutrient status, 2) determine the efficiency and suitability of precision vineyard nutrient management, 3) define grapevine nutrient thresholds based on environment and production market, and 4) estimate the economic impact and feasibility of nutrient management decisions and extend knowledge. The project is generating vineyard nutrient prediction maps by employing hyperspectral sensors calibrated against vine tissue nutrient data. Field trials involving nitrogen, potassium, and magnesium supplementation in wine, table, raisin, and juice grape varieties were conducted according to local nutrient-limitation conditions in WA, OR, CA, NY, and VA. To address improved season-long sampling, tissues were collected and analyzed at growth stages spanning from dormancy to leaf fall. To share project updates with industry and peers, the team provided field events, podcasts, and train-the-trainer programs. By integrating new technologies with vineyard nutrient management practices, this project aims to provide stakeholders with new options for vineyard nutrient monitoring that will improve decision-making within the grape production sector.

Funding Support: USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture-Specialty Crop Research Initiative Coordinated Agricultural Projects (CAP) grant project award number: 2020-51181-32159.