Grapevine vigour is correlated with N-mineralization potential of soil from selected cool climate vineyards in Victoria, Australia

Context and purpose of the study. Modern viticulture is facing significant challenges due to global climate changes, spanning from extreme heat spells and water scarcity to the acceleration of grapevine’s phenological development with important consequences from budbreak to harvest.

Among the items preserved in gene banks, the old standard and autochthonous varieties represent an increasing value, since these varieties may have properties to make their cultivation more effective under changing climatic conditions. The increasingly extreme weather is a huge challenge for the viticulture. Collectional varieties can also play important role in protection against pests and pathogens. A genebank ensures not only the preservation of rare varieties, but also gives the opportunity for more knowledge and research of these varieties.

Rio grande do sul is the main grape producing state in Brazil, with the largest wine-growing area, responsible by 90% of the national production of wines and grape juices. Serra Gaúcha is the main vitivinicultural region, where around 15% of the area is destined to produce wines from vitis vinifera L. grapes. This region presents high rainfall during the grape maturation cycle, a factor that leads to great risk of attacks by fungal pathogens. the use of resistant varieties can reduce the cost and quantity of spraying, improving wine quality, focusing on a sustainable vitiviniculture.

Climate change will require the adaptation of agricultural systems and among the different means of adaptation, changing plant material is a promising strategy. In viticulture, different levels of diversity are currently exploited: clonal and varietal diversity for rootstocks and scions. A huge quantity of research aims to evaluate different genotypes in different environmental conditions to identify which ones are the best adapted and the most tolerant to future environmental conditions.

For the first time, it was established that the timing of inoculation with LAB could significantly impact the concentration of many secondary metabolites leading to significant aromatic changes. From studied compounds, the most influenced were esters and diacetyl.