Estudio de la adaptación y del comportamiento productivo y enológico de variedades blancas foráneas en la zona vitícola del Penedés

Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is one of the most important economic crops in the world. Because of this importance, one finds widespread molecular genetic research on this species, an important element of which is high quality RNA.

Context and purpose of the study. As other perennial crops grapevine is facing the challenges of climate changes. One of the major issues is global warming and variations of the water budget.

The study was carried out in 2006 with Merlot grapes from vines grown using the trellis system, where four treatments were compared with different levels of water stress.

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of environmental hazards (e.g., prolonged drought), and even non-extreme climate events (e.g., a period of slightly warmer temperatures) can lead to extreme impacts when they occur simultaneously with other (non-extreme) events.

Cover crops are increasingly considered in Mediterranean climate vineyards due to a combination of agronomic and regulatory considerations. However, the soil under the vines themselves is typically kept free of vegetation by mechanical plowing or herbicide spraying. Taking into account that these practices may convey a number of non-favourable economic and environmental implications, and the fact that drip irrigation can ease the use of cover crops under the vines, the aim of this work was to evaluate the agronomic implications and the changes in soil physical and biological properties caused by an under-vine cover crop in a Mediterranean area.