Development of a water stress alert system embedded in a DSS for Integrated Vineyard Management

The European project MoDeM-IVM (A web-based system for real-time Monitoring and Decision Making for Integrated Vineyard Management aims to develop an interactive, web-based Decision Support System (DSS) for integrated management of the vineyard The project will produce a prototype of a DSS with the following functionalities: decision support for canopy management, disease and pest control, and alert systems on potential abiotic stresses, such as low temperature injuries and water stress, as well as attainable yield. The DSS is targeted at the vineyard manager, i.e., the person who makes decisions about the vineyard management or suggests the proper actions to the grower. The decision supports and alerts provided by the system are: i) formulated on the basis of mathematical models outputs; ii) based on the best options for managing the vineyard according to the Integrated Production. The models working within the DSS receive weather and soil data in real-time by a Wireless Sensor Network installed in the vineyard. Further information on the vineyard components can be collected by means of hand held devices. In respect to water stress, a model for its early detection as a function of soil water content was developed.