Toward a sustainable viticulture: Improved grapevine productivity and tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses by combining resistant cultivars and beneficial microorganisms – VitiSmart

Average global temperatures are projected to rise by 3–5 ¬°C by 2100. A changing climate leads to changes in the frequency; intensity,
spatial extent, duration, and can result in unprecedented extreme weather and climate events. Climate change (CC) will affect the
ecosystem processes such as primary production, and the distribution and abundance of plant species. Climate change will also alter the
plant diseases since the rate at which pathogens evolve and overcome host resistance may increase. Because abiotic factors such as
temperature affect host susceptibility to pathogens and pathogen aggressiveness, interactions between plant resistance traits and abiotic
stress tolerance may represent the most substantial impact of climate change on plant productivity.
VitiSmart is a 3 years project with interdisciplinary research activities, structured with a well-balanced division between research and
innovation, basic and applied research, field data collection and demonstration, socio-economic, technology transfer and dissemination
actions, as well as management. It will contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals by integrating economic, social and
environmental dimensions and addressing mutually food security and climate challenges.
The project is composed of 3 main themes:
1) Sustainably increasing agricultural quality, productivity and incomes;
2) Adapting and building resilience to climate change; and
3) Reducing chemical inputs while maintaining quality using biocontrol methods.
The project aims to produce, at the end of the project, a resilient viticultural system able to speedily recover from biotic and
abiotic stresses. This will be achieved by combining resilient cultivars with beneficial microorganisms to acquire a
natural-cross-tolerance while maintaining yield.
The main objectives of the project are to:
• Strengthen climate change models on grapevine crop systems by understanding how climate change will affect cropping systems (as
opposed to crop productivity);
• Improve both preventive and curative strategies for more grapevine cultivars tolerant to pathogen under a CC context;
• Understanding of the molecular and physiological pathways underlying the interaction between grape cultivars/beneficial microbial
agents/pathogens/climate change;
• Facilitate interdisciplinary research integrating innovative adaptive strategies with socio-economical aspects of grapevine production;
• Support the European grapevine growers by matching consumer demands for top quality grapes and food safety; The project aims to
produce, at the end of the project, a resilient viticultural system able to speedily recover from biotic and abiotic stresses. This will be
achieved by combining resilient cultivars with beneficial microorganisms to acquire a natural-cross-tolerance while maintaining yield.