Abstract
To overcome unsatisfactory appearance and flavor in grape berries, both cluster thinning and girdling are the practices widely applied in southern China. However, the changes in sugar, anthocyanin and ABA accumulation under cluster thinning and girdling, as well as the interactive effects of these two practices were poorly understood. In present study, four treatments (control, girdling, cluster thinning, and cluster thinning + girdling) were conducted prior to veraison in ‘Jumeigui’ table grapes across two consecutive seasons. It was shown that cluster thinning significantly increased sugar and anthocyanin concentrations, whereas girdling had no positive impact on these parameters at maturity. Both cluster thinning and girdling upregulated the transcript abundance of several corresponding genes involved in sugar accumulation and anthocyanin biosynthesis. The low LA/yield proportion under girdling against that under cluster thinning might result in low sugar and anthocyanin contents even though the transcript abundance of corresponding genes was upregulated. Furthermore, cluster thinning accelerated berry ABA biosynthesis, which was strongly correlated with the transcript abundance of NCED1 and NCED2, but girdling did not. The acceleration of ABA biosynthesis in ‘Jumeigui’ berries under cluster thinning might stimulate early sugar accumulation and anthocyanin biosynthesis, and then lead to higher sugar and anthocyanin contents than that seen with girdling.
- Received June 2022.
- Revision received August 2022.
- Accepted September 2022.
- Published online October 2022
- Copyright © 2022 by the American Society for Enology and Viticulture. All rights reserved.
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