Climatic indices as markers of table-grapes postharvest quality: A prediction exercise

Abstract

Climatic conditions have been acknowledged to affect table-grapes production and postharvest quality. The correlation of the monitored environmental conditions such as rainfall and ambient temperature, with postharvest quality properties such as pedicel detachment force, pH, brix, grape volume, for three cultivation years 2015–2017 was analysed. The significance of the climatic variability on the postharvest quality was examined based on a hydrothermic index used in viticultural zoning namely Branas, Bernon, Levadoux (BBL) for two phenological stages the Budbreak-Flowering and Flowering-Veraison. Their analysis revealed correlations of good efficacy between the BudBreak-Flowering BBL and Flowering-Veraison BBL with the postharvest quality, adopting the Box-Cox transformation for variance stabilization and accuracy improvement of Pearson correlation between the analysed variables. The statistical analysis also revealed specific dependencies of the tested quality properties from the climatic indices and management zones that could be implemented in the postharvest management of table-grapes, according to the management zones delineation as these are determined in the context of the precision viticulture.