terclim by ICS banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Amino nitrogen content in grapes: the impact of crop limitation

Amino nitrogen content in grapes: the impact of crop limitation

Abstract

As an essential element for grapevine development and yield, nitrogen is also involved in the winemaking process and largely affects wine composition. Grape must amino nitrogen deficiency affects the alcoholic fermentation kinetics and alters the development of wine aroma precursors. It is therefore essential to control and optimize nitrogen use efficiency by the plant to guarantee suitable grape nitrogen composition at harvest. Understanding the impact of environmental conditions and cultural practices on the plant nitrogen metabolism would allow us to better orientate our technical choices with the objective of quality and sustainability (less inputs, higher efficiency). This trial focuses on the impact of crop limitation – that is a common practice in European viticulture – on nitrogen distribution in the plant and particularly on grape nitrogen composition. A wide gradient of crop load was set up in a homogeneous plot of Chasselas (Vitis vinifera) in the experimental vineyard of Agroscope, Switzerland. Dry weight and nitrogen dynamics were monitored in the roots, trunk, canopy and grapes, during two consecutive years, using a 15N-labeling method. Grape amino nitrogen content was assessed in both years, at veraison and at harvest. The close relationship between fruits and roots in the maintenance of plant nitrogen balance was highlighted. Interestingly, grape nitrogen concentration remained unchanged regardless of crop load to the detriment of the growth and nitrogen content of the roots. Meanwhile, the size and the nitrogen concentration of the canopy were not affected. Leaf gas exchange rates were reduced in response to lower yield conditions, reducing carbon and nitrogen assimilation and increasing intrinsic water use efficiency. The must amino nitrogen profiles could be discriminated as a function of crop load. These findings demonstrate the impact of plant balance on grape nitrogen composition and contribute to the improvement of predictive models and sustainable cultural practices in perennial crops.

DOI:

Publication date: May 31, 2022

Issue: Terclim 2022

Type: Article

Authors

Thibaut Verdenal1, Ágnes Dienes-Nagy1, Vivian Zufferey1, Jean-Laurent Spring1, Jorge E. Spangenberg2, Olivier Viret3and Cornelis van Leeuwen4

1Agroscope Institute, Pully, Switzerland
2Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
3Direction générale de l’agriculture, de la viticulture et des affaires vétérinaires, Morges, Switzerland
4EGFV, Univ. Bordeaux, Bordeaux Sciences Agro, INRAE, ISVV, Villenave d’Ornon, France

Contact the author

Keywords

crop thinning, nitrogen use efficiency, yeast assimilable nitrogen, amino acids, partitioning, reserve mobilization

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terclim 2022

Citation

Related articles…

Estimation of chemical age of red wines with the use of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and chemometrics

The color of a red wine is one of the most important parameters of its quality, giving much information on its status, such as the grape variety used or the winemaking style. As the result of a complex equilibrium between different forms of anthocyanins and polymerization reactions which occur over the course of time, color can also serve as an indication of a wines’ age. For this purpose the “chemical age” i and ii indexes have been introduced by Somers in 1977. The chemical age index i measures the color absorbance after the addition of acetaldehyde while chemical index ii provides an indication of how much of the total red pigments are resistant to SO2 bleaching.

Montpellier vine & wine sciences (M-WineS)

The Occitanie Region is the first vine-growing area in France: 270 000 hectares of vineyard and an annual production of 15 million hectoliters. Its annual income reaches 1 900 million euros, of which 900 million euros in export.The vine and wine sector is facing many issues: inputs reduction, adaptation to climate change, maintaining the production competitiveness, digital tools integration in production and transformation processes, and the production of quality wines meeting the consumer demand.

Influence of soil characteristics on vine growth, plant nutrient levels and juice properties: a multi-year analysis

Soil physical and chemical properties affect vine nutrition, as indicated by leaf and petiole nutrient content, in a way that may directly impact wine properties.

Partial dealcoholisation of red wine by reverse osmosis-evaporative perstraction: impact on wine composition

Around the world, the alcohol content of wine has been steadily increasing; partly as a consequence of climate change, but also due to improvements in viticultural management practices and winemaking techniques [1,2]. Concurrently, market demand for wines with lower alcohol levels has increased as consumers seek to reduce alcohol intake for social and/or health reasons [3]. As such, there is increasing demand for both innovative methods that allow winemakers to produce ‘reduced alcohol wines’ (RAW) and a better understanding of the impact of such methods on the composition of RAW. This study therefore aimed to investigate compositional changes in two red wines resulting from partial alcohol removal following treatment by one such method, involving a combination of reverse osmosis and evaporative perstraction (RO-EP).

Primary results on the characterisation of “terroir” in the certified denomination of origin Rioja (Spain)

La integración de variables referentes al clima, la litología y la morfología del relieve y el suelo en la D.O. Ca Rioja permite la configuración de un modelo a través de cuya validación se obtiene la delimitación de zonas vitícolas.