Variable Rate Drip Irrigation.

Most of the vineyards worldwide are subjected to spatial variability, exhibits in areas with lower yield than the rest of the plot. In addition to the spatial variability in yield there is also variability in the quality of grapes and thus for the produced wine. In most cases the cause for variability is the available water for the vines in the different growth stages, vines on soils with low water holding capacity will grow to be smaller and produce less yield than vines on high water holding capacity soils. The new irrigation concept we developed the VRDI gives an answer to the variability found in vineyards. The VRDI system divides the vineyard into 30 by 30-meter irrigation zones where each zone can be irrigated separately according to NDVI maps and compensating irrigation method. The first VDRI system was installed in Israel in a 2006 Syrah red wine variety on a 1.2 ha plot size. On the year before the installation we collected data on the spatial variability in the vineyard such as: LAI, leaf water potential, yield quantity and quality and wine produced from different locations at the plot. The trend found was reduced yield, LAI and canopy size along the rows from south to north while at the same time increased water potential values and increased quality. At the first year of operating the VRDI system the trend found in previous year was vanished. The yield, LAI, canopy size, water potential and primary juice chemical analysis were very similar in comparison to previous years. The elimination of the spatial variability was due to different irrigation for each zone. The low NDVI value zones got more water than the high NDVI value zones and thus the canopy sizes and all other parameters where eventually similar.