Macrowine 2021
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Changes in grape-associated microbiome as a consequence of post-harvest withering

Changes in grape-associated microbiome as a consequence of post-harvest withering

Abstract

AIM: Grape withering is an oenological post-harvest process used for production of reinforced and sweet wines. Drying can be carried out by keeping the ripe grape in traditional large, well-aired rooms (non-controlled environment) or, more and more often, in a warehouse under controlled conditions of airflow and relative humidity (controlled environment)[1]. The microbiome associated with withering grapes has been showed to be profoundly linked with the process and its results[2,3]. The main aims of this study were to (a) provide detailed information on bacterial and fungal communities evolution throughout the grapes withering process, and (b) perform a comparative study between two dehydration methods, regarding the associated microbiomes.

METHODS: Samples of withering grapes were collected in the Italian viticultural zone Valpolicella, where the renowned wine Amarone is produced using non-botrytized withered grapes of Corvina variety. Two different post-harvest conditions were analyzed (non-controlled and controlled withering environment); grapes coming from two vineyards (close but differing for soil characteristics) were considered, during 2 subsequent vintages. To map the microbiome during withering, Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) was employed[4]: the progression of fungal and bacterial species was characterized through metabarcoding (ITS and 16s) at 4 different time points (from 0 to 30% of weight loss).

RESULTS: No significant differences, at biodiversity level, were found between the microbial communities of grapes from the two vineyards, nor between the two vintages. The evolution of microorganisms during drying was instead interestingly variable. Moreover, slight but significant differences were found between the two withering systems, although significant only for some taxa.

CONCLUSIONS: NGS metabarcoding showed to be an effective technique in the study of withering-grape microbiome and provided new information on the changes occurring in microbial communities because of the drying process. Indeed, to our knowledge, the present work is the first time-course study of both mycobiome and bacteriome throughout withering. The study also showed that changes of drying conditions can lead to significant modifications of the berry-skin microbiota.

DOI:

Publication date: September 3, 2021

Issue: Macrowine 2021

Type: Article

Authors

Tiziana Nardi, Luca Nerva*, Walter Chitarra*

CREA – Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria, Centro di Ricerca Viticoltura ed Enologia, Conegliano, Italy, Diego Tomasi and Tiziana Nardi  CREA – Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria, Centro di Ricerca Viticoltura ed Enologia, Conegliano, Italy *these authors contributed equally to the work

Contact the author

Keywords

Post-harvest, grape microbiome, metabarcoding, epiphytes

Citation

Related articles…

Towards a regional mapping of vine water status based on crowdsourcing observations

Monitoring vine water status is a major challenge for vineyard management because it influences both yield and harvest quality. It is also a challenge at the territorial scale for identifying periods of high water restriction or zones regularly impacted by water stress. This information is of major importance for defining collective strategies, anticipating harvest logistic or applying for irrigation authorisation. At this spatial scale, existing tools and methods for monitoring vine water status are few and often require strong assumptions (e.g. water balance model). This paper proposes to consider a collaborative collection of observations by winegrowers and wine industry stakeholders (crowdsourcing) as an interesting alternative. Indeed, it allows the collection of a large number of field observations while pooling the collection effort. However, the feasibility of such a project and its interest in monitoring vine water status at regional scale has never been tested.

The objective of this article is to explore the possibility of making a regional map of vine water status based on crowdsourcing observations. It is based on the study of the free mobile application ApeX-Vigne, which allows the collection of observations about vine shoot growth. This information is easy to collect and can be considered, under certain conditions, as a proxy for vine water status. This article presents the first results obtained from the nearly 18,000 observations collected by winegrowers and wine industry stakeholders during 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons. It presents the vine shoot growth maps obtained at regional scale and their evolution over the three vintages studied. It also proposes an analysis of the factors that favoured the number of observations collected and those that favoured their quality. These results open up new perspectives for monitoring vine water status at a regional scale but above they provide references for other crowdsourcing projects in viticulture.

Leaf vine content in nutrients and trace elements in La Mancha (Spain) soils: influence of the rootstock

The use of rootstock of American origin has been the classic method of fighting against Phylloxera for more than 100 years. For this reason, it is interesting to establish if different rootstock modifies nutrient composition as well as trace elements content that could be important for determining the traceability of the vine products. A survey of four classic rootstocks (110-Richter, SO4, FERCAL and 1103-Paulsen) and four new ones (M1, M2, M3 and M4) provided by Agromillora Iberia. S.L.U., all of them grafted with the Tempranillo variety, has been carried out during 2019. The eight rootstocks were planted in pots of 500 cc, on three soils with very different characteristics from Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). In the month of July, the leaves were collected and dried in a forced air oven for seven days at 40ºC. Then, the samples were prepared for the analysis determination, carried out by X-Ray fluorescence spectrometry. The results obtained showed that in the case of content in mineral elements in leaf, separated by soil type, we can report the importance of few elements such as Si, Fe, Pb and, especially, Sr. The rootstock does not influence the composition of the vine leaf for the studied elements that are the most important in determining the geochemical footprint of the soil. The influence of the soil can be discriminated according to some elements such as Fe, Pb, Si and, especially, Sr.

Measurement of redox potential as a new analytical winegrowing tool

Excell laboratory has initiated the development of an analytical method based on electrochemistry to evaluate the ability of wines to undergo or resist to oxidative phenomena. Electrochemistry is a powerful tool to probe reactions involving electron transfers and offers possibility of real-time measurements. In that context, the laboratory has implemented electrochemical analysis to assess oxidation state of different wine matrices but also in order to evaluate oxidative or reduced character of leaf and soil. Initially, our laboratory focused on dosage of compounds involved in responses of plant stresses and we were also interested in microbiological activity of soils. These analyses were compared with the measurement of redox potential (Eh) and pH which are two fundamental variables involved in the modulation of plant metabolism. Indeed, the variation of redox states of the plant reflects its biological activity but also its capacity to absorb nutriments. The Eh-pH conditions mainly determine metabolic processes involved in soil and leaf and our goal is to determine if this combined analytical approach will be sufficiently precise to detect biological evolutions (plant health, parasitic attack…).

Bioclimatic shifts and land use options for Viticulture in Portugal

Land use, plays a relevant role in the climatic system. It endows means for agriculture practices thus contributing to the food supply. Since climate and land are closely intertwined through multiple interface processes, climate change may lead to significant impacts in land use. In this study, 1-km observational gridded datasets are used to assess changes in the Köppen–Geiger and Worldwide Bioclimatic (WBCS)

Impact on leaf morphology of Vitis vinifera L. cvs Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon under Free Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment (FACE)

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration has continuously increased since pre-industrial times from 280 ppm in 1750, and is predicted to exceed 700 ppm by the end of 21st century. For most of C3 plant species elevated CO2 (eCO2) improve photosynthetic apparatus results in an increased plant biomass production. To investigate the effects of eCO2 on morphological leaf characteristics the two Vitis vinifera L. cultivars, Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon, grown in the Geisenheim VineyardFACE (Free Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment) system were used. The FACE site is located at Geisenheim University (49° 59′ N, 7° 57′ E, 94 m above sea level), Germany and was implemented in 2014 comparing future atmospheric CO2-concentrations (eCO2, predicted for the mid-21st century) with current ambient CO2-conditions (aCO2). Experiments were conducted under rain-fed conditions for two consecutive years (2015 and 2016). Six leaves per repetition of the CO2 treatment were sampled in the field and immediately fixed in a FAA solution (ethanol, H2O, formaldehyde and glacial acetic acid). After 24 h leaf samples were transferred and stored in an ethanol solution. Subsequently, leaf tissue was dehydrated using ethanol series and embedded in paraffin. By using a rotary microtomesections of 5 µm were prepared and fixed on microscopic slides. Subsequent the samples were stained using consecutive staining and washing solutions. Afterwards pictures of the leaf cross-sections were taken using a light microscope and consecutive measurements were conducted with an open source image software. Differences found in leaf cross-sections of the two CO2 treatments were detected for the palisade parenchyma. Leaf thickness, upper and lower epidermis and spongy parenchyma remained less affected under eCO2 conditions. The observed results within grapevine leaf tissues can provide first insights to seasonal adaptation strategies of grapevines under future elevated CO2 concentrations.