RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Water Versus Sink:Source Relationships in a Semiarid Tempranillo Vineyard: Vine Performance and Fruit Composition
JF American Journal of Enology and Viticulture
JO Am J Enol Vitic.
FD American Society for Enology and Viticulture
SP ajev.2016.16026
DO 10.5344/ajev.2016.16026
A1 José M. Mirás-Avalos
A1 Ignacio Buesa
A1 Elena Llacer
A1 Miguel A. Jiménez-Bello
A1 David Risco
A1 Juan R. Castel
A1 Diego S. Intrigliolo
YR 2016
UL http://www.ajevonline.org/content/early/2016/08/16/ajev.2016.16026.abstract
AB Grapevine yield and fruit composition largely depend on vine water status, which can be manipulated, especially in semiarid climates, by irrigation strategies and training systems. The objective of the current research was to study how canopy height can influence vine growth, yield and berry traits of Tempranillo vines when plants are water stressed to a greater or lesser extent. Two canopy heights and three irrigation strategies, similarly applied in the two training systems, were tested in combination. Over two years (2010–2011), elevating the canopy resulted in a 26% increase in leaf area per vine but also in a higher water stress. As a consequence, yield was 12% reduced by the elevated canopy on average for the three irrigation levels, due to lower cluster and berry weights, which were accompanied by increased total soluble solids and higher berry anthocyanins concentration, but also by lower total acidity and malic and tartaric acids concentrations. Regarding the irrigation regimes, pooled over seasons, there were only very small differences in yield. However, berry anthocyanins concentration was higher when an early deficit irrigation strategy was applied. Pooling data, midday stem water potential rather than the leaf:area to yield ratio, was the indicator better explaining treatment-to-treatment differences in vine performance and fruit composition. This suggests that vine performance in the area of study is more influenced by water availability than by the amount of sunlight intercepted by the vineyard.