Use of phytomonitoring to evaluate the irrigation scheduling in vineyards (vitis vinifera l.) of itata valley Chile

The phytomonitoring is a technology that provides information in real time of crop water status and allow to make a feedback between crop and grower to improve the irrigation control. The aim of this investigation was to asses the plant water status and your effect on yield and quality parameter in a commercial vineyard under drip irrigation in an Ultic Palexeralf soil during the 2008-2009 growing season at Central Southern of the Ñuble Region, Itata Valley, Chile. The experimental design was split-plot with three treatments of soil texture: clayey loam, sandy clay and clayey, and three sub-treatments of ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’, ‘Merlot’ and ‘Syrah’ cultivars. Stomatal conductance, leaf-air temperature, cluster weight, berry diameter, berry weight, and soluble solids content were evaluated. The results showed that the phytomonitoring is useful to evaluate the irrigation management in vineyards. Stomatal conductance and leaf-air temperature showed good performance as indicators of vine water status and grapevine quality. This study highlight the effect of soil texture on yield and wine quality in grapevines of semi-arid zones with drip irrigation.