WP5 - New plant protection systems

The aim of this WP is to evaluate overhead covering applied to grape, apple, apricot and cherry trees. The covering are physical barriers that protect the plants from pests and rain water, thus from the fungi diffusion, like for example Peronospora and Scab. The use of micrometric nets should allow to drastically reduce the use of chemical treatments and thus the environmental impact. For this reason, the assessment will provide a comparison between the carbon footprint of an orchard treated with organic treatments versus an orchard protected by the plastic nets system.