Terroir 2010 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Water relations, growth and yield of grapevines in Portugal’s Douro wine region

Water relations, growth and yield of grapevines in Portugal’s Douro wine region

Abstract

The hot and dry climate of the Demarcated Region of Douro (DRD), Portugal, particularly during the summer, induces soil water deficits that influence the growth and development of grapevines. Therefore, controlling the water supply to the soil, and concurrently the crop water status, through irrigation, it is an updated and sometimes controversial issue, which can bring significant changes in physiological processes within the plant and thus in vegetative growth, yield and quality. Water relations in grapevines have been extensively investigated over the past decades. However, more easily automated techniques have been recently used such as trunk diameter variations. On the other hand, the data reported in the literature relates to a wide range of climatic regions, varieties, phenological stages and soil moisture regimes, and consequently comparisons are frequently difficult to make. As a result the present study is undertaken to enhance understanding of the responses of cv. ‘Moscatel Galego’ grapevines to irrigation during a growing season (2009) in the DRD. The experimental design includes rain-fed plots and a trickle irrigated regime. The main objectives are to

(i) determine water availability by soil moisture readings along the vegetative cycle;

(ii) evaluate water stress indicators for irrigation scheduling, such as variations in trunk diameter, and

(iii) assess the responses of crop growth, yield and quality to different water regimes.

The work analyses several variables such as maximum daily trunk shrinkage, vegetative growth and development (e.g. leaf area, pruning weight), yield (fresh weight and number of clusters per vine) and quality (e.g. pH, total acidity, sugar content). As expected, irrigation improved vine water status and increased canopy expansion and leaf duration. Irrigation raised mean yields of fresh fruits, but had no effect on quality. The present work is part of a larger study, which includes namely the quantification of evapotranspiration and its components by eddy covariance and sap flow measurements.

DOI:

Publication date: December 3, 2021

Issue: Terroir 2010

Type: Article

Authors

A. C. Malheiro (1, 2), I. Gonçalves (2), N. Conceição (3), A. A. Fernandes-Silva (1, 2), J. Silvestre (4), V. Sousa (2), M. I. Ferreira (3)

(1) Centre for Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences (CITAB), 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal
(2) Department of Agronomy, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal
(3) Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal
(4) Estação Vitivinícola Nacional, Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e das Pescas, 2565-191 Dois Portos, Portugal

Contact the author

Keywords

Grapevines, water relations, dendrometry, Douro, Portugal

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2010

Citation

Related articles…

Use of multispectral satellite for monitoring vine water status in mediterranean areas

The development of new generations of multispectral satellites such as Sentinel-2 opens possibilities as to vine water status assessment (Cohen et al., 2019). Based on a three years field campaign, a model of Stem Water Potential (SWP) estimation on vine using four satellite bands in Red, Red-Edge, NIR and SWIR domains was developed (Laroche-Pinel et al., 2021). The model relies on SWP field measures done using a pressure chamber (Scholander et al., 1965), which is a common, robust and precise method to assess vine water status (Acevedo-Opazo et al., 2008). The model was mainly developed from from SWP measures on Syrah N (Laroche Pinel E., 2021).

A large scale monitoring was organized in different vineyards in the Mediterranean region in 2021. 10 varieties amongst the most represented in this area were monitored (Cabernet sauvignon N, Chardonnay B, Cinsault N, Grenache N, Merlot N, Mourvèdre N, Sauvignon B, Syrah N, Vermentino B, Viognier B). The model was used to produce water status maps from Sentinel-2 images, starting from the beginning of June (fruit set) up to September (harvest). The average estimated SWP for each vine was compared to actual field SWP measures done by wine growers or technicians during usual monitoring of irrigation programs. The correlations between mean estimated SWP and mean measured SWP were at the same level than expected by the model. (Laroche Pinel, 2021) The general SWP kinetics were comparable. The estimated SWP would have led to same irrigation decisions concerning the date of first irrigation in comparison with measured SWP.

Acevedo-Opazo, C., Tisseyre, B., Ojeda, H., Ortega-Farias, S., Guillaume, S. (2008). Is it possible to assess the spatial variability of vine water status? OENO One, 42(4), 203.
Cohen, Y., Gogumalla, P., Bahat, I., Netzer, Y., Ben-Gal, A., Lenski, I., … Helman, D. (2019). Can time series of multispectral satellite images be used to estimate stem water potential in vineyards? In Precision agriculture ’19, The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers, pp. 445–451.
Laroche-Pinel, E., Duthoit, S., Albughdadi, M., Costard, A. D., Rousseau, J., Chéret, V., & Clenet, H. (2021). Towards vine water status monitoring on a large scale using sentinel-2 images. remote sensing, 13(9), 1837.
Laroche-Pinel,E. (2021). Suivi du statut hydrique de la vigne par télédétection hyper et multispectrale. Thèse INP Toulouse, France.
Scholander, P.F., Bradstreet, E.D., Hemmingsen, E.A., & Hammel, H.T. (1965). Sap pressure in vascular plants: Negative hydrostatic pressure can be measured in plants. Science, 148(3668), 339–346.

Different soil types and relief influence the quality of Merlot grapes in a relatively small area in the Vipava Valley (Slovenia) in relation to the vine water status

Besides location and microclimatic conditions, soil plays an important role in the quality of grapes and wine. Soil properties influence…

Organic recycled mulches in sustainable viticulture: assessment of spontaneous plants communities and weed coverage

In recent years, developing more efficient and sustainable viticulture management has been essential due to the impact of climate change in semiarid regions. For this reason, the use of recycled organic mulching (ROM) in the vineyard has become an interesting strategy to cope with water stress, isolated soil from extreme temperatures and improving soil humidity, control the presence of weeds and therefore reduce the inputs of herbicides and improve soil fertility. This work aimed to analyse the effect of three different organic mulches [straw (S), grape pruning debris (GPD) and spent mushroom compost (SMC)] and two traditional soil management techniques [herbicide (H) and interrow (IN)] on weed coverage and the spontaneous plant communities’ presence. Data sampling was collected throughout the vine vegetative cycle of 2021 in La Rioja, Spain. The different soil management techniques had a clear effect on weed coverage and his development during the vine vegetative cycle. SMC and H were the treatments with the highest and the lowest coverage percentage, respectively. IN had a delayed weed emergence at the beginning of the vine vegetative cycle, but finally it reached maximum values nearby SMC. GPD and S had similar effects on weed emergence, reaching 25-30% of the maximum coverage values. A total of 29 herbaceous species were identified during the vegetative cycle, some of them very isolated and occasional. Principal component analysis (PCAs) showed a good association between spontaneous species and treatments, furthermore, specific species-treatment associations were found. Moreover, three clear groups of herbaceous communities were identified by cluster analysis. This study provides interesting information about the effect of different alternative soil management on herbaceous plant coverage and weed species communities which could contribute to making more sustainable viticulture.

Modeling the suitability of Pinot Noir in Oregon’s Willamette Valley in a changing climate

Air temperature is the key driver of grapevine phenology and a significant environmental factor impacting yield and quality for a winegrape growing region. In this study the optimal downscaled CMIP5 ensemble for computing thegrowing season average temperature (GST) viticulture climate classification index was determined to spatially compute on a decadal basis predictions of the GST climate index and the grapevine sugar ripeness (GSR) model for Pinot Noir throughout the Willamette Valley (WV) American Viticultural Area (AVA). Forecasts for average temperature and a 220 g/L target sugar concentration level were computed using daily Localized Constructed Analogs (LOCA) downscaled CMIP5 historic and Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) future climate projections of minimum and maximum daily temperature. We explore spatiotemporal trends of the GST climate classification index and Pinot Noir specific applications of the GSR phenology model for the WV AVA. Spatiotemporal computations of the GST climate index and Pinot Noir specific applications of the GSR model enable the opportunity to explore relationships between their computed values with one intent being to provide updated GST ranges that better align with current temperature-based modeling understanding of Pinot Noir grapevine phenology and the viticultural application of LOCA CMIP5 climate projections for the WV AVA. The Pinot Noir specific applications of the GSR model or the GST index with updated bounds indicate that the percent of the WV AVA area suitable for Pinot Noir production is currently at or near its peak value in the upper 80s to lower 90s of this century.

Local adaptation tools to ensure the viticultural sustainability in a changing climate

[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"...