Exploring high throughput secondary trait phenomics to improve grapevine breeding

Of biocontrol products and resistant grape varieties, synthetic pesticides are still widely used to control fungal diseases and protect vines from potential damage caused by pests. The use of pesticides is strictly regulated, and their use can sometimes lead to transfer from the grapes to the must and then into the wine. The study of pesticide residues in grapes and wines is commonly carried out by wine producers in order, among other things, to optimize treatment routes, check that products comply with regulations, and ultimately guarantee the food safety of the wine.

The use of grapevine genetic diversity is a way to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on viticulture systems. Leaf epidermal flavonoids (including flavonols and anthocyanins) are involved in plant defense mechanisms against environmental stresses, like high temperatures or excessive solar radiation [1,2]. Among other factors, they modulate light absorption, which reduces photoinhibition processes in photosynthetic tissues [1]. Therefore, the identification of grapevine cultivars with an increased content on leaf epidermal flavonoids arises as a potential avenue to improve grapevine tolerance to some detrimental environmental stresses.

The purpose of this study is to compare the skin resistance (SR) of the grapes with physico-chemical propertiess using a stong dataset and multidimentional statistical analysis .
A recent study has shown the role skin resistance plays against pest invasion but skin resistance could be a useful agronomic parameter, for example in the choice of the type of winemaking, by influencing the quantity of juice during crushing and maceration.

The study analyzes a set of open innovation actions promoted by the innovation environments of the Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (IFRS), in cooperation with entities, companies in the sector and the Department of Innovation, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Sul.

The reproducibility of elemental profile in wines produced across multiple vintages has been previously reported using grapes from a single scion clone of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Pinot noir. The grapevines were grown on fourteen different vineyard sites, from Oregon to southern California in the U.S.A., which span distances from approximately hundreds of meters to 1450 km, while elevations range from near sea level to nearly 500 m. In addition, sensorial (i.e. aroma, taste, and mouthfeel) and chemical (i.e. polyphenolic and volatile) differences across the different vineyard sites have also been observed among these wines at two aging time points. While strong evidence exists to support that grapes grown in different regions can produce wines with unique chemical and sensorial profiles, even when a single clone is used, the understanding of growing site characteristics that result in this reproducible differentiation continues to emerge. One hypothesis is that the elemental profile that a vineyard site imparts to the grape berries and the resulting wine is an important contributor to this differentiation in chemistry and sensory of wines. For example, various classes of enzymes that catalyze the formation of key aroma compounds or their precursors require specific metals. In this work, we begin to report correlations between elemental and volatile aroma profiles of site-specific Pinot noir wines, made under standardized winemaking conditions, that have been previously shown to be distinguished separately by these chemical analyses.