UV Boosting has everything of a cosmetic product, which one would make a good commercial on TV.
In fact, it is a scientific technology patented in 2015, which helps the vine to develop its own immune response.
The device consists of UV lamps deployed at the front or rear of the tractor.
UV-C “flashes” are then sent to the vines to promote their production of salicylic acid, resulting in a chain reaction, overexpression of the defense genes.
"It's like a preventive vaccination which will allow the plant to protect itself from fungal attacks, such as downy mildew or powdery mildew," explains Pascal Delaunay, distributor partner at Dumont France Cave, near Épernay.
“It does not replace organic or even chemical treatments.
But it makes it possible to reduce the doses of active ingredients.
The correct frequency is to flash every 10 or 12 days, depending on the growth of the plant.
"Pascal Delaunay, who receives the Viticulture Innovation Prize in duo with the manufacturer this Tuesday at the show, has been marketing the product since the end of 2020 and has sold for the time being, 4 machines in the Marne and 4 others in the Aube. .
"We don't have the wonderful southern climate ..."
“Environmental constraints are weighing more and more on farms.
We have to innovate and find solutions against the disease, ”explains one of the two inventors, Laurent Urban, professor of agronomy at the University of Avignon.
It was in 2013 that he studied, with his colleague researcher in plant pathology, the powers of UV-C, already known for their germicidal and sterilizing action (although still controversial for their atmospheric harmfulness).
After the patent has been filed, a start-up will help them raise 3.6 million euros and the first machines will be released in 2020 for the public.
Read alsoOrganic wine: in this Var vineyard, pesticides have not been used for 40 years
"2021 was ideal for carrying out final tests in real conditions, given the ultra-humid spring and the numerous attacks from aggressors suffered", concludes Pascal Delaunay, evoking the interest of the champagne industry for this new technology. test.
“North of the Loire, we do not have the wonderful climate of the south… It is cold and humid, diseases appear more easily.
If we know that organic viticulture yields are half that of conventional ones, assistance of this type is not negligible.
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