Applications of Infrared Spectroscopy from laboratory to industry

Grapevine (Vitis vinifera) and its derived products, in terms of cultivated area and economic volume, constitute the most relevant fruit crop in the world (7.5 million cultivated hectares). In the current context of climate change, the wine sector faces unprecedented challenges to satisfy a growing demand for wines of greater quality through sustainable viticulture. Global warming threatens quality wine production in Mediterranean wine regions in particular. The increase in heatwaves and drought episodes accelerate the vine phenology and alter the ripening and composition of grapes and wine. Extreme abiotic stress episodes compromise grape production and plant survival, intensifying the pressure on the use of limited resources like water. Abscisic acid (ABA) is an important hormone in the ripening of certain fruits and in plant response to abiotic stress.

Grafting plants uses intrinsic healing processes to join two different plants together to create one functional organism. To further our understanding of the molecular changes occurring during graft union formation in grapevine, we characterized the metabolome and transcriptome of intact and wounded cuttings (with and without buds to represent scions and rootstocks respectively), and homo- and heterografts at 0 and 14 days after wounding/grafting. As over-wintering, dormant plant material was grafted, we also characterized the gene expression changes in the wood during bud burst and spring activation of growth. We observed an asymmetrical pattern of gene expression between above and below the graft interface, auxin and sugar related genes were up-regulated above the graft interface, while genes involved in stress responses were up-regulated below the graft interface.

Endogenic diseases often arise from pathogens that exist within the plant tissue, including fungi, bacteria, and viruses, which can remain latent and then emerge under stress conditions or favorable environmental conditions, causing symptoms that weaken vines or can lead to plant death.

‘Tempranillo Tinto’ is one of the most relevant grapevine cultivars worldwide. Despite its early ripening and relatively short vegetative cycle, which may not be ideal for high-quality grape and wine production in warming conditions, its long-standing cultivation has led to an intense multiplication by cuttings, which originated the high level of clonal variation currently available. Now, this intra-varietal diversity provides an interesting opportunity for cultivar improvement by identifying genotypes with better adaptation potential.

Soil plays an important role in wine quality, especially its water holding capacity because it affects the balance between vigour and grape yield. The aim of this work was to study the influence of different soil types on the must quality in a vineyard at DO Ca Rioja