PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Oriana Silvestroni
AU  - Vania Lanari
AU  - Tania Lattanzi
AU  - Alberto Palliotti
AU  - Paolo Sabbatini
TI  - Impact of Crop Control Strategies on the Performance of High-Yielding Sangiovese Grapevines
AID  - 10.5344/ajev.2016.15093
DP  - 2016 Jul 11
TA  - American Journal of Enology and Viticulture
PG  - ajev.2016.15093
4099  - http://www.ajevonline.org/content/early/2016/07/07/ajev.2016.15093.short
4100  - http://www.ajevonline.org/content/early/2016/07/07/ajev.2016.15093.full
AB  - Climate change will require grape-growers to develop improved viticultural practices to control vine yield, and the rate of fruit maturation. The impacts of five different canopy management regimens on vegetation, yield, and grape quality were investigated, as well as carryover effects upon vines in the following year. Winter pruning (Wp), shoot thinning (St), shoot thinning with pre-anthesis defoliation (St+Dpa), shoot thinning with pre-veraison defoliation (St+Dpv), and, lastly, shoot thinning with pre-veraison defoliation plus cluster thinning (St+Dpv+Ct) were applied to Sangiovese vines during 2011-2013. Neither St nor St+Dpv changed yield or grape quality compared to Wp. St+Dpa treatment did reduced leaf area and yield (−33%), compared to Wp and St, with an increase in sugar concentration and a carryover effect into 2014 reducing vine capacity. A management strategy that combines shoot thinning with pre-anthesis defoliation, increasing sugar concentration and suppressing yield, offers the grape-grower the most potential for long term regulation of vine yield and grape quality. However, in a non-irrigated vineyard of medium vigor, Wp, St and St+Dpv could be used to achieve yield and fruit quality levels according to desired or defined threshold, considering the relative cost of the vineyard practices.