N-Perennes, a tool for reasoning nitrogen fertilization in perennial crops: application to grapevines and certain fruit trees.

Summary This project, born from the RMT Fertilisation et Environnement, aims to develop a prototype of a nitrogen fertilisation management tool for perennial plants, based on an already existing and innovative tool, used on field crops (AzoFert®) and based on the balance method. The emphasis is on the fact that the project must result in a generic prototype and not specific to a region. The prototype is presented in computerized form, with access via the Internet. The user must enter several categories of data: location, soil, crop (crop itinerary, target yield). An operational and user-friendly interface has been developed, although improvements are still needed. The results obtained with the N-Perennes prototype are encouraging in viticulture compared to empirical recommendations (50% of correct recommendations). In arboriculture, the lack of experimental references has led to a low number of validations. In order for the prototype to become an operational tool, programming and parameterization work will have to be carried out, as well as validation on a larger number of situations, particularly in real conditions of use of the tool. Other perspectives, widening the objective of the prototype, are also possible.