Breeding for complex quantitative traits remains a major challenge in perennial crop systems, particularly for traits related to water use efficiency (WUE), which are strongly influenced by environmental variation and difficult to phenotype at scale.
Although the grapevine (Vitis vinifera) is a thermophilic plant wich is well adapted to regions with warm and dry summers, it is increasingly affected by climate change.
High-quality planting material is important for sustainable viticulture, and the early establishment of grapevine cuttings depends on rapid adventitious rooting and vigorous shoot growth.
Water availability constraints are becoming a defining factor in Mediterranean viticulture, which requires a deeper understanding of cultivar-specific adaptive mechanisms to sustain yield and fruit quality.
Climate change increasingly challenges viticulture through heatwaves and drought on the one hand as well as high precipitation levels on the other.
Prolonged water deficits driven by climate change are increasingly affecting the viticultural sector highlighting the need for drought-tolerant rootstocks.
The increasing occurrence of drought events poses a major challenge for viticulture, as water deficit negatively affects vine yield and berry quality.
Freezing tolerance is an important trait affecting grapevine winter survival in the Northern United States.
Mediterranean viticulture faces increasing pressure from rising temperatures, altered phenology, and intensified disease incidence.
Clonal selection represents a key approach in the genetic improvement of grapevines. Its primary objective is to fix, within commercial clones, the cumulative somatic variations that have arisen over time in vegetatively propagated vineyards and that confer valuable agronomic traits.
The wine producing sector currently faces major challenges, particularly adapting to climate change and transitioning toward agroecological practices - notably reducing the use of plant protection products and synthetic fertilizers.
Despite the urgent need for boosting grapevine breeding to face the threat of climate change, the genetic determinism of key traits related to phenology and leaf physiology have yet to be explored in a large diversity panel in the field.