Abstract
In winegrowing regions around the world increasing temperature associated with climate change is responsible for earlier harvests and is implicated in undesirably high sugar concentrations at harvest. Determining the suitability of grapevine varieties in existing or new winegrowing areas has often been based on temperature, without considering other factors. The purpose of this study was to quantify key berry sugar accumulation traits and characterize their plasticity in response to several climate variables. Data was collected from 36 different cultivars over 7 years (2012–2018) from an experimental vineyard in Bordeaux, France. Sugar amounts were obtained through weekly berry sampling starting at mid-veraison and continuing until after technological maturity. The variation in sugar accumulation traits for all cultivars, when considered together, were well explained by cultivar, year, and their interaction, highlighting the relative roles of genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity. Sugar accumulation traits were affected by antecedent and concurrent climate factors such as photosynthetically active radiation, temperature, and vine water status, whether before, or after mid-veraison. In addition, other traits such as berry weight at mid-veraison and date of mid-veraison had an important influence on sugar accumulation traits. More notably, the relative importance of these factors varied significantly by cultivar. The specific physiological mechanisms driving the plasticity of these traits remain to be identified. Adaptation to climate change cannot be based on temperature alone and crop responses cannot be generalized across genotypes, even within species.
Highlights
Wine grape (Vitis vinifera L.) vineyards covered more than 7.4 million hectares worldwide (OIV, 2018)
The purpose of this study is to describe key sugar accumulation traits and characterize their plasticity in response to seasonal variation in climatic and other variables for 36 different grapevine cultivars using data collected over 7 years (2012–2018) from an experimental vineyard in Bordeaux France
A sigmoidal model was successfully fit to weekly berry sugar accumulation data and key sugar accumulation traits were quantified
Summary
Wine grape (Vitis vinifera L.) vineyards covered more than 7.4 million hectares worldwide (OIV, 2018). Winegrowers have classically selected different cultivars of wine grapes for the phenotypic traits that best match their (micro-)climates (Wolkovich et al, 2018) and soils. Grape Berry Sugar Accumulation Traits maintain those cultivars that produce consistent yields and reach appropriate balance of sugar, acid, and other compounds under local climatic conditions (van Leeuwen and Seguin, 2006). A major concern is that crop yields and quality may be significantly affected by climate change (Fraga et al, 2012). It is expected that temperatures will increase and drought will intensify in many regions across the globe (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], 2014). Climatic conditions during grape ripening have already been affected, resulting in altered grape composition at harvest (Fraga et al, 2012). Grapes are being harvested at increasingly higher sugar levels, resulting in wines with increased alcohol levels (Duchène and Schneider, 2005; Godden et al, 2015)
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