GiESCO 2019 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 GiESCO 9 GiESCO 2019 9 Response of Shiraz/101‐14 mgt to in‐row vine spacing

Response of Shiraz/101‐14 mgt to in‐row vine spacing

Abstract

Context and purpose of the study ‐ Knowledge of vine reaction to plant spacing under high potential soil conditions is restricted. This study was done to determine effects of vine spacing (with fixed row spacing) of Shiraz/101‐14 Mgt on a high potential soil on vine physiological reaction, growth, yield and grape composition. The study is targeting economic viability by considering establishment, yield, grape and wine quality, and expected longevity.

Material and methods – The project is carried out in the Breede River Valley, Robertson, South Africa. Shiraz(clone SH 9C)/101‐14 Mgt vines were planted during 2008 to a VSP trellis with a fixed row spacing of 2.2 m and a row orientation of approx. NNE‐SSW (30°). In‐row vine spacing varies from 0.3–4.5 m with increments of 30 cm (from 15151–1010 vines/ha), totalling 15 treatments. Treatments were irrigated similarly per week (based on ET0 values and standard seasonal crop factors). Grapes are harvested at two ripeness levels.

Results ‐ After establishing the experiment vineyard in 2008, results have been generated over six seasons with complete pruning system (2‐bud spurs, equally spaced) and cordon development. Canopies developed uniformly with cordon extension. General vegetative growth over treatments varied according to seasonal conditions. Except for individual leaf size, vegetative growth parameters (trunk circumference, shoot and cane mass) were mostly reduced for narrower spaced vines. Yield:cane mass ratios showed an increasing trend from narrow to wide vine spacing. Fertility, together with bunch mass, seemed to increase from narrow to wide spacings. Bunches of narrow spacing treatments seemed more compact. Physiological parameters revealed a complex interplay between vine structure expansion, microclimate, water relations, photosynthetic output, and carbon distribution. Grape composition followed trends of decreasing sugar levels (°B) and pH, and increasing titratable acidity (TA), from narrow to wide spacing. In line with physiological symptoms of stress and available leaf area per yield, sugar accumulation of wider spacings seemed delayed. A balance between oenological advancement, wine style and production returns per investment is critical. Total costs (as measured in this study), labour and yields showed very clear trends with an apparent optimal from 1.8–2.4 m vine spacing. Final sustainability would depend on the total cost of production, farm conditions, and labour skills.

DOI:

Publication date: June 22, 2020

Issue: GiESCO 2019

Type: Article

Authors

J.J. HUNTER (1), M. BOOYSE (2), C.G. VOLSCHENK (1)

(1) ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij, Private Bag X5026, Stellenbosch, South Africa (2) ARC Biometry, Private Bag X5026, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Contact the author

Keywords

Vine spacing, Physiology, Growth, Ripeness level, Grape composition, Sustainability

Tags

GiESCO 2019 | IVES Conference Series

Citation

Related articles…

Adapting the vineyard to climate change in warm climate regions with cultural practices

Since the 1980s global regime shift, grape growers have been steadily adapting to a changing climate. These adaptations have preserved the region-climate-cultivar rapports that have established the global trade of wine with lucrative economic benefits since the middle of 17th century. The advent of using fractions of crop and actual evapotranspiration replacement in vineyards with the use of supplemental irrigation has furthered the adaptation of wine grape cultivation. The shift in trellis systems, as well as pruning methods from positioned shoot systems to sprawling canopies, as well as adapting the bearing surface from head-trained, cane-pruned to cordon-trained, spur-pruned systems have also aided in the adaptation of grapevine to warmer temperatures. In warm climates, the use of shade cloth or over-head shade films not only have aided in arresting the damage of heat waves, but also identified opportunities to reduce the evapotranspiration from vineyards, reducing environmental footprint of vineyard. Our increase in knowledge on how best to understand the response of grapevine to climate change was aided with the identification of solar radiation exposure biomarker that is now used for phenotyping cultivars in their adaptability to harsh environments. Using fruit-based metrics such as sugar-flavonoid relationships were shown to be better indicators of losses in berry integrity associated with a warming climate, rather than solely focusing on region-climate-cultivar rapports. The resilience of wine grape was further enhanced by exploitation of rootstock × scion combinations that can resist untoward droughts and warm temperatures by making more resilient grapevine combinations. Our understanding of soil-plant-atmosphere continuum in the vineyard has increased within the last 50 years in such a manner that growers are able to use no-till systems with the aid of arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi inoculation with permanent cover cropping making the vineyard more resilient to droughts and heat waves. In premium wine grape regions viticulture has successfully adapted to a rapidly changing climate thus far, but berry based metrics are raising a concern that we may be approaching a tipping point.

Short-term relationships between climate and grapevine trunk diseases in southern French vineyards

[lwp_divi_breadcrumbs home_text="IVES" use_before_icon="on" before_icon="||divi||400" module_id="publication-ariane" _builder_version="4.19.4" _module_preset="default" module_text_align="center" module_font_size="16px" text_orientation="center"...

Upscaling the integrated terroir zoning through digital soil mapping: a case study in the Designation of Origin Campo de Borja

homogeneous zones by intersecting several partial zonings of major factors that influence vineyard growth. Each of them follows specific process from their corresponding disciplines. Soil zoning specifically refers to a Soil Resource Inventory map that has traditionally been generated by conventional soil mapping methods. These methods have shortcomings in reaching fine cartographic and categorical details and involve significant expenses, which undermines their applicability. A new framework named Digital Soil Mapping has introduced quantitative models by statistical techniques to establish soil-landscape relationships and is able to provide intensive scale cartography.

In the present study, a microzoning at 1:10.000 scale is generated from an initial zoning, where the conventional soil map with polytaxic map units is replaced by a new one from digital techniques that disaggregates them. The comparison between the zonings considers a quantitative evaluation of capability for each Homogeneous Terroir Unit by means of the Viticultural Quality Index and its categorization based on its distribution by map. The spatial intersection of both maps gives rise to a confusion matrix in which the flows of class variations after the substitution are assessed.

The results show a five-fold increase in the number of Homogeneous Terroir Units identified and a larger differentiation among them, evidenced by a wider range in the capability index distribution. Both elements are accompanied by an increase in the detection of areas of higher potential within previously undervalued uniform zones.These features are a direct effect of the improvements brought by Digital Soil Mapping techniques and would verify the advantages of their implementation in the Integrated Terroir zoning. Eventually, such new highly detailed terroir units would benefit precision viticulture and sustainable management practices.

An analytical framework to site-specifically study climate influence on grapevine involving the functional and Bayesian exploration of farm data time series synchronized using an eGDD thermal index

Climate influence on grapevine physiology is prevalent and this influence is only expected to increase with climate change. Although governed by a general determinism, climate influence on grapevine physiology may present variations according to the terroir. In addition, these site-specific differences are likely to be enhanced when climate influence is studied using farm data. Indeed, farm data integrate additional sources of variation such as a varying representativity of the conditions actually experienced in the field. Nevertheless, there is a real challenge in valuing farm data to enable grape growers to understand their own terroir and consequently adapt their practices to the local conditions. In such a context, this article proposes a framework to site-specifically study climate influence on grapevine physiology using farm data. It focuses on improving the analysis of time series of weather data. The analytical framework includes the synchronization of time series using site-specific thermal indices computed with an original method called Extended Growing Degree Days (eGDD). Synchronized time series are then analyzed using a Bayesian functional Linear regression with Sparse Steps functions (BLiSS) in order to detect site-specific periods of strong climate influence on yield development. The article focuses on temperature and rain influence on grape yield development as a case study. It uses data from three commercial vineyards respectively situated in the Bordeaux region (France), California (USA) and Israel. For all vineyards, common periods of climate influence on yield development were found. They corresponded to already known periods, for example around veraison of the year before harvest. However, the periods differed in their precise timing (e.g. before, around or after veraison), duration and correlation direction with yield. Other periods were found for only one or two vineyards and/or were not referred to in literature, for example during the winter before harvest.

Understanding graft union formation by using metabolomic and transcriptomic approaches during the first days after grafting in grapevine

Since the arrival of Phyloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifolia) in Europe at the end of the 19th century, grafting has become essential to cultivate Vitis vinifera. Today, grafting provides not only resistance to this aphid, but it used to adapt the cultivars according to the type of soil, environment, or grape production requirements by using a panel of rootstocks. As part of vineyard decline, it is often mentioned the importance of producing quality grafted grapevine to improve vineyard longevity, but, to our knowledge, no study has been able to demonstrate that grafting has a role in this context. However, some scion/rootstock combinations are considered as incompatible due to poor graft union formation and subsequently high plant mortality soon after grafting. In a context of climate change where the creation of new cultivars and rootstocks is at the centre of research, the ability of new cultivars to be grafted is therefore essential. The early identification of graft incompatibility could allow the selection of non-viable plants before planting and would have a beneficial impact on research and development in the nursery sector. For this reason, our studies have focused on the identification of metabolic and transcriptomic markers of poor grafting success during the first days/week after grafting; we have identified some correlations between some specialized metabolites, especially stilbenes, and grafting success, as well as an accumulation of some amino acids in the incompatible combination. The study of the metabolome and the transcriptome allowed us to understand and characterise the processes involved during graft union formation.