GiESCO 2019 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 GiESCO 9 GiESCO 2019 9 Nitrogen requirements of table grape cultivars grown in the san Joaquin valley of California

Nitrogen requirements of table grape cultivars grown in the san Joaquin valley of California

Abstract

Context and purpose of the study ‐ Ground water in the interior valleys of California is contaminated with nitrates derived from agricultural activities, primarily the over-fertilization of crops. Agriculture is now mandated by the State of California to monitor all possible nitrogen (N) inputs into agro‐ecosystems and only apply N amounts that meet a crop’s demand. The best estimate of N required for the current season’s growth of shoots and fruit in raisin, table and wine grape vineyards in the San Joaquin Valley is approximately 70 to 80 kg N ha‐1 (values derived from Thompson Seedless and several wine grape cultivars). The table grape industry continues to develop new cultivars and replanting vineyards using open‐gable trellis systems which will produce greater vegetative biomass and fruit yields. One objective of this study was to determine the N budget of several established and newer table grape cultivars trained to overhead trellises, grown in the San Joaquin Valley.

Materials and Methods – Flame Seedless, Scarlet Royal, Crimson Seedless, Princess, Sheegene‐21 and Autumn King grapevines grown at eight commercial vineyards within 30 km of the KARE Center were used in the study. N fertilizer was applied in three of the vineyards, the amount being that removed in the fruit at harvest and twice that. The control vines received no applied N. Petioles were collected at bloom and veraison to assess vine N status. Shoots and clusters were removed from data vines in each vineyard at bloom, veraison and fruit harvest, biomass and N concentrations determined and N budgets developed in each vineyard.

Results ‐ Petiole nitrate‐N at bloom and veraison were significantly correlated with petiole ammonia‐N and total N measured at the same stage and total N in the leaves, stems and fruit at bloom, veraison and harvest. Values of petiole nitrate‐N below 200 ppm (dry weight basis) at bloom in the current season resulted in fewer clusters produced by the vines the following year. Yield of Flame Seedless, Scarlet Royal and Crimson Seedless averaged across treatments and years was 55, 67 and 53 t/ha, respectively. The amount of N per ton of fruit ranged from 0.98 to 1.85 kg. The amount of N accumulated by vines at harvest in the leaves, stems and clusters ranged from 131 to 210 kg/ha. The amount of N in the fruit (kg/t) was dependent upon location and somewhat correlated with petiole analyses at bloom and veraison.The amount of N to produce a crop was a function of location, row spacing and supply of N from the irrigation water and soil profile. The N required by the vines in these table grape vineyards were much greater than earlier estimates.

DOI:

Publication date: June 22, 2020

Issue: GiESCO 2019

Type: Article

Authors

Larry E. WILLIAMS and Matthew FEDELIBUS

Department of Viticulture and Enology University of California – Davis and
Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension (KARE) Center 9240 S. Riverbend Avenue
Parlier, CA 93648

Contact the author

Keywords

 table grapes, N nutrition, N budget

Tags

GiESCO 2019 | IVES Conference Series

Citation

Related articles…

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.

VineyardFACE: Investigation of a moderate (+20%) increase of ambient CO2 level on berry ripening dynamics and fruit composition

Climate change and rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is a concern for agriculture, including viticulture. Studies on elevated carbon dioxide have already been on grapevines, mainly taking place in greenhouses using potted plants or using field grown vines under higher CO2 enrichment, i.e. >650 ppm. The VineyardFACE, located at Hochschule Geisenheim University, is an open field Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experimental set-up designed to study the effects of elevated carbon dioxide using field grown vines (Vitis vinifera L. cvs. Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon). As the carbon dioxide fumigation started in 2014, the long term effects of elevated carbon dioxide treatment can be investigated on berry ripening parameters and fruit metabolic composition.
The present study aims to investigate the effect on fruit composition under a moderate increase (+20%; eCO2) of carbon dioxide concentration, as predicted for 2050 on both Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon. Berry composition was determined for primary (sugars, organic acids, amino acids) and secondary metabolites (anthocyanins). Special focus was given on monitoring of berry diameter and ripening rates throughout three growing seasons. Compared to previous results of the early adaptative phase of the vines [1], our results show little effect of eCO2 treatment on primary metabolites composition in berries. However, total anthocyanins concentration in berry skin was lower for eCO2 treatment in 2020, although the ratio between anthocyanins derivatives did not differ.
[1] Wohlfahrt Y., Tittmann S., Schmidt D., Rauhut D., Honermeier B., Stoll M. (2020) The effect of elevated CO2 on berry development and bunch structure of Vitis vinifera L. cvs. Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon. Applied Science Basel 10: 2486

Analysis of some environmental factors and cultural practices that affect the production and quality of the Manto Negro, Callet and Prensal Blanc varieties

45 non irrigated vineyards distributed in the DO (Denomination) Pla i Llevant de Mallorca and the DO Binissalem Mallorca were used to investigate the characteristics of production and quality and their relationships certain environmental factors and cultural practices. The grape varieties investigated are autochthonous to the island of Mallorca, Manto Negro and Callet as red and Prensal Blanc as white. All plants were measured for four consecutive years in the main production and quality parameters. Among the environmental factors, the type of soil has been studied, more specifically its water retention capacity, the planting density, the age of the vineyard and the level of viral infection. The presence or absence of virus seems to have no effect on any component studied in the varieties studied. For the white variety Prensal Blanc age is negatively correlated with production and the number of bunches, nevertheless it does not cause any effect on the required quality parameters. However, for the red varieties Callet and Manto Negro, the age of the plantation is the variable that best correlates with the quality parameters, therefore the old vines should be the object of preservation by the viticulturists and winemakers in order to guarantee its contribution to the quality of the wines made with these varieties.

Effects of graft quality on growth and grapevine-water relations

Climate change is challenging viticulture worldwide compromising its sustainability due to warmer temperatures and the increased frequency of extreme events. Grafting Vitis vinifera L.

The modification of cultural practices in grapevine cv. Syrah, does it modify the characteristics of the musts?

The work shows the results of a year of experimentation (2020) in a Syrah variety vineyard in La Roda (Castilla-La Mancha, Spain). The trial approach was on a randomized block design with two factors: Irrigation (I) and Pruning (P).
Irrigation schedules were adjusted to apply amounts close to 1,500 m3/ha. With this provision, 2 different irrigation treatments were proposed: I1) Start of irrigation from pea-sized grape to post-harvest (providing at least 20 % of the total amount of irrigation water to be provided post-harvest); I2) Start of irrigation from pea-sized grape to harvest (usual irrigation practice in the study area). Pruning was proposed with two treatments, one at the end of January (P1), which is pruning on a conventional date; and P2) pruning carried out at the beginning of budding. In total, 4 repetitions were designed with 4 elementary plots, each one of them representing one of the proposed treatments (I1P1; I1P2; I2P1; I2P2). In total, 16 plots were worked on and each elementary plot consisted of 30 strains, distributed in 3 lines.
The productive response was evaluated with the yield results of the harvest harvested at 23 ºBrix. The qualitative response was measured in the musts through the indices of technological (acidity, pH and potassium) and phenolic maturity and aromatic compounds in free and glycosylated fractions. The treatments tested had, in general, an effect on the different variables analyzed.