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Recovering organic residues in organic viticulture : a demonstration case in France

08/09/2020

The chamber of agriculture – Charente Maritime (CA17) encourages the substitution of mineral fertilisers by farm’s organic residues at the farm level. This goes in-line with the European strategies and guidelines towards the production of biobased fertilisers and soil improvers.

Within the Nutri2Cycle project, the Chamber has engaged two demonstration plots at two farms on its territory for the application of biobased fertilizers.

At the “Le Petit Bois” farm located in Thezac, which is covered with vineyard and arable crops, CA17 aimed to apply oil-cake made from oil seeds as a fertilizer for a vineyard plot.

The experimental work started in August 2020 although CA17 initial plan was to start in 2019.

The experiment compiled the collection of field and remote sensing data. In order to assess Nitrogen accumulation in the tested vineyard, vine leaves were tested  with a Dualex sensor to collect Nitrogen Balance Index (NBI) values.

The combination of both field and remote sensing data allowed CA17 to draw the NBI map for the vineyard plot respectively. The NBI varied as seen below:

• NBI < 20, tested crop lacks of nitrogen
• 30 <NBI < 20 , tested crops are balanced for nitrogen
• NBI > 30 tested crops are considered in a “luxury” Nitrogen consumption status

The map has been sent to farmers as an acknowledgment for their application of biobased fertilizers. The map will also provide growers with new insights regarding Nitrogen application and encourage them to use oil cake for their upcoming fertilisation application.