RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Soil Nutrient Availaibility under Cover Crops and Its Delayed Effects on Vine, Must, and Wine in a Tempranillo Vineyard
JF American Journal of Enology and Viticulture
JO Am. J. Enol. Vitic.
FD American Society for Enology and Viticulture
SP ajev.2015.14092
DO 10.5344/ajev.2015.14092
A1 Eva P. Pérez-Álvarez
A1 Enrique García-Escudero
A1 Fernando Peregrina
YR 2015
UL http://www.ajevonline.org/content/early/2015/04/15/ajev.2015.14092.abstract
AB Cover crops can compete with the vine for soil nutrients; therefore they can modify grapevine development as well as must and wine quality. The objective was to evaluate the influence of two different cover crops upon the soil availability of N, P, K, and Mg; likewise the grapevine nutritional status, vigor, yield and the must and wine quality. The experiment was carried out on a cv. Tempranillo vineyard in La Rioja (Spain) where three treatments were established: gramineous (barley) and leguminous (clover) cover crops, and conventional tillage. Both soil N-NO3− evolution and soil P, K and Mg were determined as well as the total cover crop biomass production and its N, P, K and Mg content. Leaf nutrient content was assessed, along with vine vigor and yield. Lastly, the must and wine quality was evaluated. Results show how the P, K and Mg cover crop uptake did not reduce the soil availability of those nutrients and did not influence their concentration in the grapevine. The barley cover crop reduced N soil availability from first year leading to a leaf N and vine vigor reduction in third year, as well as a polyphenol and color intensity increase in the fourth year. In the barley treatment, those increases were statistically less significant in the wine than in the must. The clover treatment increased the soil N availability in second, third and fourth year but only resulted in an increased leaf N content in third and fourth year. Finally, barley cover crop could be a viable alternative to reduce the soil N and improve must and wine quality; although its effects were delayed from the cover crop introduction.