As companions, winery dogs are commonly seen around vineyards and cellars performing the valuable job of best friend. But canines could soon take on a new role in the vineyards, sniffing out pests among the grapevines.
The vine mealybug, or Planococcus ficus, is a vineyard pest that has spread across California for three decades. The mealybug carries the grapevine leafroll 3 virus, which saps the vine’s health and ability to produce a normal-sized crop.
The mealybug spreads prolifically as it produces several broods of offspring in a season and is transported easily on birds, pruning shears, mechanical harvesters and other equipment. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) procedures for limiting the spread have included keeping vineyards and equipment clean, using chemical insecticide treatments or removing vines.
Is There a More Sustainable Way to Prevent Infestations? Enter Furry Friends.
Dr. Stephanie Bolton, who works as both grower research and education director and sustainable winegrowing director at the Lodi Winegrape Commission, wanted to employ special canines in an IPM program for vineyards. In 2023, she secured a $428,000 grant from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to study dogs’ ability to detect the leafroll 3 virus.
Five canines were purchased for the study and four completed training. Two English Springer Spaniels (named Sauvi B. and Zinny), one Black Labrador (Malbec) and a German Shorthaired Pointer (Cab) were selected by handlers based on biological factors—the breeds' olfactory capacities and odor imprinting capabilities. “Dogs have up to 300 million olfactory receptors to humans’ five million,” Bolton told Wine Spectator. “The dogs can smell things that to us as humans have no smell.”
Two dogs were trained to find the scent of leafroll virus and two were trained to find mealybugs. The biggest scent from a mealybug is the adult pheromone secretion females use to attract males. The canine screens the vineyard by passing over each vine and continues if it does not find the target odor. When it passes mealybugs or an infected vine, the dog alerts its handler by sitting down.
“The canines are rewarded by play; it’s a game to them,” said Bolton. She also found that “the dogs will even improve with time.” Her study found that the canines detected leafroll viruses an average of 93.4 percent of the time and detected the presence of vine mealybugs 97.3 percent of the time. The dogs proved their abilities in three sets of trials.
More Possibilities for Pups
Similar studies suggest canines can detect other potential problems. Red blotch virus and powdery mildew fungus can also be perceived by a canine’s odor identification. And a study just released by Cornell University found that dogs could sniff out a relatively new pest in American vineyards—the spotted lanternfly. Professional dog trainers from the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference and Working Dogs for Conservation trained two dogs–a Labrador retriever and a Belgian Malinois–to track the scent of spotted lanternfly egg masses.
