Anatomy of Recovery of Canes of Vitis Vinifera L. from Simulated Freezing Injury

Abstract

Winter cold injury to Vitis vinifera canes was simulated by topical application of liquid nitrogen to canes just before bud swell. A frozen girdle was associated with 5% and 7% survival, while spot freezing was associated with 44% and 62% survival, of canes apical to the treated areas of Chenin blanc and Gewürtztraminer, respectively. The activity of the cambium in the cane below a living bud was concomitant with the growth of a shoot from that bud. Most of the shoots which survived the wilting period (end of May to early July) produced more than 10 leaves. In the cane, cells from adjacent uninjured cambium grew over the dead xylem. If the injury was extensive, living cells from the phloem also took part in the healing of the cane.