terclim by ICS banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Permanent cover cropping with reduced tillage increased resiliency of wine grape vineyards to climate change

Permanent cover cropping with reduced tillage increased resiliency of wine grape vineyards to climate change

Abstract

Majority of California’s vineyards rely on supplemental irrigation to overcome abiotic stressors. In the context of climate change, increases in growing season temperatures and crop evapotranspiration pose a risk to adaptation of viticulture to climate change.  Vineyard cover crops may mitigate soil erosion and preserve water resources; but there is a lack of information on how they contribute to vineyard resiliency under tillage systems. The aim of this study was to identify the optimum combination of cover crop sand tillage without adversely affecting productivity while preserving plant water status. Two experiments in two contrasting climatic regions were conducted with two cover crops, including a permanent short stature grass (P. bulbosa hybrid), barley (Hordeum spp), and resident vegetation under till vs. no-till systems in a Ruby Cabernet (V. vinifera spp.) (Fresno) and a Cabernet Sauvingon (Napa) vineyard. Results indicated that permanent grass under no-till preserved plant available water until E-L stage 17. Consequently, net carbon assimilation of the permanent grass under no-till system was enhanced compared to those with barley and resident vegetation. On the other hand, the barley under no-till system reduced grapevine net carbon assimilation during berry ripening that led to lower content of nonstructural carbohydrates in shoots at dormancy. Components of yield and berry composition including flavonoid profile at either site were not adversely affected by factors studied. Switching to a permanent cover crop under a no-till system also provided a 9% and 3% benefit in cultural practices costs in Fresno and Napa, respectively. The results of this work provides fundamental information to growers in preserving resiliency of vineyard systems in hot and warm climate regions under context of climate change.

Download the PDF

DOI:

Publication date: May 31, 2022

Issue: Terclim 2022

Type: Article

Authors

Maria Zumkeller, Nazareth Torres, Runze Yu, Alyssa DeVincentis and S. Kaan Kurtural

Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis, USA

Contact the author

Keywords

cover crops, tillage, cultivation, climate change, soil health

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terclim 2022

Citation

Related articles…

Grapevine rootstock field evaluation under drought and saline condition in California

Climate change impacts grape production worldwide and in California drought and salinity became increasingly challenging for grape growers to maintain sustainable production and fruit quality.

Read More

Adjustments of water use efficiency by stomatal regulation during drought and recovery of Verona province grape varieties grafted on two different vitis hybrid rootstocks

Drought is considered to be the predominant factor both for determining the geographic distribution of vegetation and for restricting crop yields in agriculture. Furthermore

Read More

Monitoring of grapevine stem potentials with an embedded microtensiometer

Vine water status is a crucial determinant of vine growth, productivity, fruit composition and terroir or wine style; therefore, regulating water stress is of great importance. Since vine water status depends on both soil moisture and aerial environment and is very temporally dynamic, direct measurement of vine water potential is highly preferable. Current methods only provide limited data. To regulate vine water status it is critical to monitor vine water status to be able to: (1) measure vine water status to predict the effect of water stress on the overall vineyard performance and fruit quality and optimize harvest management and wine-making (2) properly regulate the water status to impose for a desired fruit quality or style (3) determine if water management has reached the desired stress level.

Read More

DEVELOPMENT OF BIOPROSPECTING TOOLS FOR OENOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS

Wine production is a complex biochemical process that involves a heterogeneous microbiota consisting of different microorganisms such as yeasts, bacteria, and filamentous fungi. Among these microorganisms, yeasts play a predominant role in the chemistry of wine, as they actively participate in alcoholic fermentation, a biochemical process that transforms the sugars in grapes into ethanol and carbon dioxide while producing additional by-products. The quality of the final product is greatly influenced by the microbiota present in the grape berry, and the demand for indigenous yeast starters adapted to specific grape must and reflecting the biodiversity of a particular region is increasing. This supports the concept that indigenous yeast strains can be associated with a “terroir”.

Read More

137Cs analysis by gamma spectrometry and its potential for dating Portuguese old wines

Analytical methods for dating wines often rely on assessing anthropogenic and cosmogenic radionuclides, including 14C and 137Cs [1,2].

Read More