VitUM: Viticultural Research at the University of Melbourne
![[Photo: VitUM Group]](images/group.jpg)
The mission of VitUM , the viticultural research group at the University of Melbourne, is to enhance the knowledge base and human capability of the Australian winegrape industry through high quality research , postgraduate research training and rigorous technical advice in an international context.
VitUM’s research is committed to the improvement of Viticultural practice and sustainability through a greater scientific understanding of the physiology and molecular biology of the grapevine and its responses to environmental and management variables.
VitUM’s postgraduate research training program is committed to science based research training emphasizing collegiality in an industry-aware and internationally-networked environment.
VitUM is committed to working with the wine industry locally, nationally and internationally to jointly forge science based technical solutions to the challenges of viticultural productivity, profitability and sustainability in the face of climate change and international competition.
The research group is well equipped with access to extensive vineyard, winery and controlled environment facilities at the University’s Dookie College Campus and state-of- the-art physiological and biotechnology laboratories at the Parkville campus.
ViTUM’s current research is focused in the following areas
- Physiology of bud development and vine fruitfulness
- The physiology of grape quality
- The development of plant based and remote infra-red sensoring techniques to schedule irrigation
- The physiological responses of grapevines to environmental variables such frost, water stress and high temperature stress
- The development of plant based sensing techniques to schedule irrigation
- The development of precision viticulture techniques to understand and manage spatial and temporal variability in the vineyard
- The impacts and adaptation of vineyards to global climate change
