La gestione dell’interfilare per il miglioramento della qualità delle uve di Merlot

The preservation of agricultural soil as an environmental resource is one of the objectives recommended by the European Union, together with the protection of water and air resources. The controlled grassing and green manure in the vineyard are given in the European community regulations of Organic Agriculture (Reg. 2092/91) and Integrated Agriculture (Reg. 2078/92) as environmentally friendly procedures to improve the physical, chemical and microbiological soil characteristics, contributing to the increase of fertility and erosion reduction. The research has the purpose of verifying whether the different techniques of soil management have an effect, in addition to those already mentioned, also over the physiological activity of the vines and on the quality of grapes in terms of balance between the polyphenols and the sugar content. For the experimental activity, which was carried out in the season 2015 in Bolgheri (LI) production area on a Merlot vineyard, three types of inter-row management were set: 1) Ground Cover; 2) Green Manure and Tillage every other row; 3) Ground Cover and Tillage every other row.