How to Scout for Grapevine Leafroll Disease More Accurately and Efficiently Than Ever

In a previous post we discussed how Grapevine Leafroll disease affects grapevines but to quickly recap, Grapevine Leafroll Disease is one of the most common and persistent grapevine diseases; it can have devastating impacts on a vineyard, delaying fruit maturity and dramatically reducing fruit quality, pigmentation, vine vigor, and yield. With no cure for Leafroll, infected vines must be removed and replanted to prevent the spread of disease.

Quick Facts:

• Leafroll affects up to 50 per cent of vineyards globally.
• It spreads at a rate of 10 per cent each year, and then exponentially after 10-15 per cent of the vineyard is infected.
• Vineyards infected with Leafroll are losing up to $40,000 of profits per hectare and cutting their average 30-year lifespan in half.
• Roguing and replanting can cost a vineyard up to $200,000 USD per hectare, with little yield for almost three years.
• VineView’s Leafroll mapping technology is academically verified.

VineView’s Solution

Using spectral analysis, scientists at VineView can identify and isolate vines infected with disease and distinguish them from healthy vines in red varietals. In a study with University of California at Davis, the technique was shown to have success rates greater than 94 per cent, and to be 200 times more efficient than current methods, for about the same cost as replacing just a few vines.

Using VineView’s disease detection technology grape growers can:

• Recover lost profits: Grapevines infected with disease produce lower quality wines and can cost a vineyard thousands of dollars in lost profits.
• Take action: Prevent the spread of disease with early identification of symptomatic vines, geo-referenced for targeted follow up, testing, and removal.
• Increase efficiency: VineView’s disease detection methodology is more accurate and more reliable than highly trained experts scouting on the ground.

How it Works

We determine specific wavelengths of light which are sensitive to a plant’s biological response to disease and capture these wavelengths using highly specialized multi and hyperspectral cameras. Our proprietary algorithms allow us to filter out unwanted targets like healthy vegetation and to amplify the signal of desired targets, like Grapevine Leafroll Disease. These targets are based on specific spectral information. Using this technique and our ultra-high-resolution imagery, we are able to detect disease at the individual plant level.

Technology in Action: How a Californian vineyard uses VineView’s Disease Detection technology to spot detect and quantify disease

A grape grower in California was aware Leafroll was present in their parcels and took action to analyze and manage infection rates.

Before turning to VineView’s aerial-based solution, they used ground-based scouting for every row of the field to identify infected plants and to estimate the total infection rate per parcel. This

method suffered from high reporting error rate, labour intensity, and inaccurate estimates.

VineView’s hyperspectral approach provided accurate estimates of total infection rate and valuable detection maps showing the exact locations where the disease had spread.

This information not only saved the grower time and proved to be important for planning control measures and monitoring the status of their parcels over time.