The contribution of University of La Rioja and its affiliated partner CSIC is centered in six Wps (WP1, WP2, WP3, WP4, WP5 and WP6 and in 17 tasks, being the task leader for Wp3.2.

In summary, the contribution of UR in WP1 will consist in the screening of germplasm including minority varieties, V.v. sylvestris accessions and Piwi varieties for resilience to powdery and downy mildew. Those materials will be further studied at the metabolomic, genomic and epigenomic level in order to identify mechanisms and genetic regions associated to the resilience.

In WP2, UR will support the disease resistance breeding program at IMIDA in screening for genotypes that have incorporated the resistance genes.

In WP3, UR team will participate in the selection of IPM strategies that could improve the resilience to fungal diseases and will be responsible of task 3.2., agronomic (yield, growth cycle, vigour, etc) and metabolomic responses associated to GxExM interactions. The activities will be carried out on 4 PIWI varieties with two previously selected IPM strategies in two different plots and seasons on berries, must and wines. Beisdes the impact of IPM on microbial biodiversity will be assessed.

Regarding socioeconomic effects of selected strategies on WP4. UR and CSIC will contribute in tasks 4.1, 4.4 and 4.5, helping identify the drivers and barriers and behavioral antecedents in the adoption for grape growers of tolerant genotypes and IPM practices in viticulture as well as the impact of policy intervention and consumer knowledge, acceptance and perception of the reduction of pesticides in viticulture.

Besides, in WP5, UR will participate in providing field plots for demonstrating and training growers in the selected strategies. Finally, we will contribute to the activities related to dissemination, explotation and communication of the outcomes of the Shield4Grape project.

WP3. Tasks 3.2:

Name: María del Mar Hernández

Organization: La Rioja University (UR)