Influence of Training/Trellising System and Rootstock Selection on Productivity and Fruit Composition of Chardonnay and Cabernet franc Grapevines in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Light microclimate, yield components, and fruit composition were investigated from 1999 to 2002 on vines growing in the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario, Canada. Six training systems (four cane-pruned: four-cane Kniffin, two-tier flatbow, Scott Henry, pendelbogen; and two spur-pruned: low cordon, vertiko), two cultivars (Chardonnay clone 96 and Cabernet franc clone 331), and two rootstocks (Kober 5BB and Riparia Gloire de Montpellier) were investigated in a 6 x 2 x 2 split-split plot design, with training system as the main factor, followed by cultivar and then rootstock. Over the four-year study, Cabernet franc had higher yields (13%) in the cane-versus the spurpruned systems. Chardonnay showed the same trend, but pendelbogen had the highest yield among the cane-pruned systems (26% greater than spur-pruned). The lowest yielding systems, low cordon and vertiko, produced fruit with the highest mean Brix over the four-year period in both cultivars, although the low-cordon canopy had a high leaf layer number, while vertiko had a low leaf layer number during the first two years of study. Must pH and titratable acidity were generally not affected by training system. Vines growing on 5BB rootstock produced greater yields, pruning weights, and had lower crop-load ratios compared to vines growing on Riparia. Vines with Riparia rootstock produced fruit higher in Brix in two of the four years.