Protection of the vineyard

The introduction of the plagues came from America (powdery mildew, downy mildew and phylloxera) during the second half of the 19th century contributed to profoundly change the habits of the campaigns. Some vineyards will disappear temporarily or permanently. Sometimes these scourges dived winemakers in deep disarray that only prayers and local superstitions have attempted to mitigate. In the middle of the twentieth century advances in chemistry have helped an important development of the synthetic products in the protection of the vineyard. If at first, these new molecules translated into spectacular results about the diseases and parasites, the phenomena of resistance and the risk of residues have highlighted the interests of reasonable protection.

In addition to the phenomena of resistance, the use of plant protection products could drive by changing the biological balance and destruction of the auxiliary, to the emergence of new pests. Such was the case for weeding with the outbreak of weeds immune to new herbicides. Similarly, the use of insecticides, led to a decrease in the population of the typhlodromes, leading to the development of dust mites.

Built-in protection relies on the use of alternatives to chemical control methods and tools of decision (observation, counting, disease modeling). Different research focuses particularly on the understanding of the mechanisms of defence of the vine.

En savoir plus