Drones show their value in vineyard water stress monitoring and irrigation
Vineyards, which are always associated with characteristic viticultural positions, are the most threatened landus in terms of climate change. Irrigation of vineyards is increasingly becoming a necessary measure in viticulture on the Croatian coastal area. The planning and implementation of vineyard irrigation requires fine-tuning of water use in order to achieve a balance between a satisfactory yield and grape quality leading to the required/desired wine quality. We must bear in mind that irrigation also affects the temperature of the canopy and the condition of the vines in the next growing season. Therefore, a well planned and implemented irrigation is a pledge for the sustainable future of the vineyard. Questions we need to answer: when to irrigate, how much, at what intervals. How UAV-based multispectral and thermal imaging cameras can give us answers to these questions is shown by means of irrigation experiments in vineyards carried out on two different terroirs on the Croatian coastal area.