Grapevine responses to water deficit and N x K fertilization: Seasonal variation of ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ and ‘Grenache’ physiology

Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) stomata are highly sensitive to atmospheric changes and influence the tradeoff between water and carbon, as estimated by intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE). The aim of this study was to examine how elevated CO2 concentrations and water deficit affect the iWUE and whole plant evapotranspiration of two grapevine varieties (cv. Cabernet Sauvignon and cv. Chardonnay). Dormant cuttings were collected from a vineyard in Temecula Valley, CA, and were grown in a growth chamber under one of two CO2 treatments: near ambient (410ppm) or elevated (700ppm). After 8 weeks of vegetative growth, grapevines were subjected to a well-watered (25% soil water content [SWC]) or gradual water-deficit treatment implemented over 12 days. We measured leaf gas exchange, including photosynthesis (A net), stomatal conductance (g s), intercellular carbon (C i ), and calculated iWUE (A net/g s), as well as daily cumulative evapotranspiration per unit leaf area (g cm-2 day-1). Vines were harvested to determine total dry weight, root mass fraction, and nitrogen content. We found that elevated CO2 and water deficit interactively increased the iWUE for both varieties, with Cabernet Sauvignon having 20% greater iWUE than Chardonnay at ~5% SWC. Chardonnay exhibited greater maximum conductance, and 43% more water transpired than Cabernet Sauvignon under a well-watered treatment. Chardonnay plants were also more impacted by elevated CO2 and water-deficit treatment than Cabernet Sauvignon, exhibiting greater stomatal sensitivity under these treatments. At ambient CO2, water deficit negatively impacted Chardonnay's photosynthesis than Cabernet Sauvignon. However, this effect was not observed at elevated CO2. This study elucidates the intraspecific differences in stomatal behaviour, productivity, and water use of two V. vinifera L. genotypes (Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay), under elevated CO2 concentrations and short-term water deficit.

Wine grape is usually grown under water deficit conditions that could negatively impact plant reserves, including the organic carbon storage in perennial organs such as woody stems. Assessing the carbohydrate status in woody organs is therefore of interest as it can influence vegetative growth in the successive season. In this study, we aimed to apply an on-solid colour reaction (using Lugol's iodine solution) coupled with reflectance spectroscopy detection to assess the grapevine canes' starch accumulation in response to short drought periods. We used two Vitis vinifera cultivars ('Cabernet Sauvignon' and 'Syrah') that were subjected to three different water conditions (well-watered; early water stress; late water stress) during the growing season as case study. We sampled woody stem tissue during winter rest. The results showed that water stress reduced the starch storage in 'Syrah', especially when imposed late and recovery time was not enough for carbon restoration, while 'Cabernet Sauvignon' was not affected. The results showed that the sensitivity of the method used here is adequate to assess starch accumulation differences due to drought treatments in grapevine canes. Moreover, the analytical approach appears fast, low cost, and promising for future physiological and agronomical research applications.

A comparative analysis of differentially expressed proteins in a susceptible grapevine (Vitis vinifera 'Cabernet Sauvignon') during the infection of Erysiphe necator, the causal pathogen of grapevine powdery mildew (PM), was conducted using iTRAQ. The quantitative labeling analysis revealed 63 proteins that significantly changed in abundance at 24, 36, 48, and 72 h post inoculation with powdery mildew conidiospores. The functional classification of the PM-responsive proteins showed that they are involved in photosynthesis, metabolism, disease/defense, protein destination, and protein synthesis. A number of the proteins induced in grapevine in response to E. necator are associated with the plant defense response, suggesting that PM-susceptible Cabernet Sauvignon is able to initiate a basal defense but unable to restrict fungal growth or slow down disease progression.

Grapevine red blotch virus (GRBV) is the causative agent of red blotch disease. Limited information is available on the seasonal variation of GRBV titer in relation to disease symptom expression in vineyards across the United States. In this study, no statistically significant difference in GRBV titer was found among asymptomatic infected vines in June ( P = 0.451) and among symptomatic infected vines in October ( P = 0.068) in a diseased ‘Cabernet franc’ vineyard in California, regardless of the years symptomatic, one to seven, as shown by qPCR. Similarly, there were no statistically significant differences in GRBV titer as it related to isolates of the two phylogenetic clades in asymptomatic infected ‘Cabernet franc’ and ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ vines in June ( P = 0.138 and P = 0.778, respectively) and in symptomatic infected vines in October ( P = 0.806 and P = 0.490, respectively). GRBV titer differed among cultivars in diseased California vineyards ( P < 0.001) and increased over the course of the growing season in infected ‘Merlot’ and ‘Cabernet franc’ vines, but not in ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ vines. Patterns observed in California were consistent in New York and Georgia vineyards. In a Geneva double curtain-trellised ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ vineyard in Georgia, GRBV distribution was uneven between cordons, and virus titer was variable within the vine canopy in June ( P = 0.017) but not in October ( P = 0.107). This work revealed consistent patterns of GRBV titer during a growing season in different vineyards across the United States. It also highlighted relatively high virus titer in symptomless grapevines in June, when Spissistilus festinus-mediated GRBV transmission is documented in northern California.

The increasing prevalence of the grapevine trunk diseases Eutypa and Botryosphaeria dieback has been attributed, in part, to abiotic stresses imposed on vineyards as production intensifies worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of water deficit irrigation practices on the infection of pruning wounds by Eutypa lata and Diplodia seriata and the subsequent rate of colonization. Two vineyard trials were conducted over two consecutive seasons in South Australia, one in the Riverland with 'Cabernet Sauvignon' with four irrigation treatments (100, 50, 25, and 12.5% of the standard irrigation program) and another in the Barossa Valley with 'Shiraz' on six rootstocks and own roots, either irrigated or not irrigated. According to leaf water potential assessments, vines with reduced irrigation were generally in water deficit and therefore subjected to stress. On the whole, incidence of wound infection and distance of colonization were similar between irrigation treatments for both pathogens, except in the Riverland, where E. lata colonized canes to a greater extent in well-watered vines than those in water deficit. Only vines on rootstock 'Ramsey' in the Barossa Valley had greater extent of colonization by E. lata in the nonirrigated vines. There was no correlation between internal staining and colonization, with both pathogens recovered to nearly 20 cm ahead of the staining. Water deficit did not increase the susceptibility of grapevine pruning wounds to infection or colonization of the subtending tissue by E. lata and D. seriata. In fact, there was evidence of lower susceptibility to colonization by E. lata in vines subjected to severe water deficit.

The impact of water deficit and salt stress on two important wine grape cultivars, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, was investigated. Plants were exposed to increasing salinity and water deficit stress over a 16 d time period. Measurements of stem water potentials, and shoot and leaf lengths indicated that Chardonnay was more tolerant to these stresses than Cabernet Sauvignon. Shoot tips were harvested every 8 d for proteomic analysis using a trichloroacetic acid/acetone extraction protocol and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Proteins were stained with Coomassie Brilliant Blue, quantified, and then 191 unique proteins were identified using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight/time of flight mass spectrometry. Peptide sequences were matched against both the NCBI nr and TIGR Vitis expressed sequence tag (EST) databases that had been implemented with all public Vitis sequences. Approximately 44% of the protein isoforms could be identified. Analysis of variance indicated that varietal difference was the main source of protein expression variation (40%). In stressed plants, reduction of the amount of proteins involved with photosynthesis, protein synthesis, and protein destination was correlated with the inhibition of shoot elongation. Many of the proteins up-regulated in Chardonnay were of unclassified or of unknown function, whereas proteins specifically up-regulated in Cabernet Sauvignon were involved in protein metabolism.

Water use efficiency (WUE) and response of grape vines ( Vitis vinifera L. cvs. ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’, ‘Merlot’, and ‘Viognier’) to a particle film treatment (PFT) under varying levels of applied water were evaluated in Victoria, Australia, and southwestern Idaho. Vines that received the least amount of water had the warmest canopy or leaf surface temperature and the lowest (more negative) leaf water potential, stomatal conductance ( g S ), transpiration (E), and photosynthesis (A). Vines with plus-PFT had cooler leaf and canopy temperature than non-PFT vines; however, temperature difference resulting from irrigation was greater than that resulting from PFT. In well-watered vines, particle film application increased leaf water potential and lowered g S . Point-in-time measurements of WUE (A/E) and g S did not consistently correspond with seasonal estimates of WUE based on carbon isotope discrimination of leaf or shoot tissue. The response of vines with particle film to undergo stomatal closure and increase leaf water potential conserved water and enhanced WUE under non-limiting soil moisture conditions and the magnitude of response differed according to cultivar.

The impact of water deficit on stilbene biosynthesis in wine grape (Vitis vinifera) berries was investigated. Water deficit increased the accumulation of trans-piceid (the glycosylated form of resveratrol) by 5-fold in Cabernet Sauvignon berries but not in Chardonnay. Similarly, water deficit significantly increased the transcript abundance of genes involved in the biosynthesis of stilbene precursors in Cabernet Sauvignon. Increased expression of stilbene synthase, but not that of resveratrol-O-glycosyltransferase, resulted in increased trans-piceid concentrations. In contrast, the transcript abundance of the same genes declined in Chardonnay in response to water deficit. Twelve single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in the promoters of stilbene synthase genes of Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir. These polymorphisms resulted in eight changes within the predicted cis regulatory elements in Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. These results suggest that cultivar-specific molecular mechanisms might exist that control resveratrol biosynthesis in grapes.

<p>Water deficit is one of the most important effects of climate change able to affect agricultural sectors. In general, it determines a reduction in biomass production, and for some plants, as in the case of grapevine, it can promote fruit quality. However, high water stress should be avoided for any crop. Then, the monitoring and management of plant water stress in the vineyard is critical as well as the knowledge of how each specific cultivars react to it.</p><p>In this sense, a multidisciplinary study was carried out to compare the Cabernet sauvignon grapevine responses to different pedoclimatic conditions of southern Italy, in three areas devoted to high-quality wine production of Campania, Molise, and Sicilia regions. This study reports the preliminary results of the Italian National project “Influence of agro-climatic conditions on the microbiome and genetic expression of grapevines for the production of red wines: a multidisciplinary approach (ADAPT)”</p><p>In each site, the environmental characteristics were characterized and the soils described through a pedological survey.  During 2020, soil water content and the principal weather variables (e.g., temperature, rainfall, solar radiation, etc.) have been monitored by means of in situ stations, while plant responses collected by means of field campaigns (LAI, LWP, grapes acidity, sugar content). Moreover, due to COVID-19 pandemic, vegetational indexes (NDVI, NDVII, RENDVI) derived from Sentinel 2A images have been used to support the plant status monitoring.</p><p>The agro-hydrological model SWAP was used to solve the soil water balance in each site and to derive the Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI) during the growing season (April- October).</p><p>The CWSI index has been compared with data collected on plant status (e.g., leaf water potential, vegetational indexes from remote sensing) and correlated to grapes quality (e.g., sugar content, acidity).</p><p>The first results have demonstrated how local pedoclimatic conditions strongly affect grapes quality production on Cabernet sauvignon in southern Italy, furnishing important information regarding how this cultivar adapts and reacts to pedo-climatic variability. This last information is useful for planning future actions to support the vine growing resilience in southern Italy. In this way, at the end of ADAPT project, the collected information for the next two years will be used to realize a robust model calibration in order to analyze the plant response under future climate scenarios RCP (4.5 and 8.5).</p><p>                                                                                                   </p><p> </p><p>Keywords: cabernet sauvignon, CWSI, terroir, SWAP, quality</p>

BackgroundGrapevine metabolism in response to water deficit was studied in two cultivars, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, which were shown to have different hydraulic behaviors (Hochberg et al. Physiol. Plant. 147:443–453, 2012).ResultsProgressive water deficit was found to effect changes in leaf water potentials accompanied by metabolic changes. In both cultivars, but more intensively in Shiraz than Cabernet Sauvignon, water deficit caused a shift to higher osmolality and lower C/N ratios, the latter of which was also reflected in marked increases in amino acids, e.g., Pro, Val, Leu, Thr and Trp, reductions of most organic acids, and changes in the phenylpropanoid pathway. PCA analysis showed that changes in primary metabolism were mostly associated with water stress, while diversification of specialized metabolism was mostly linked to the cultivars. In the phloem sap, drought was characterized by higher ABA concentration and major changes in benzoate levels coinciding with lower stomatal conductance and suberinization of vascular bundles. Enhanced suberin biosynthesis in Shiraz was reflected by the higher abundance of sap hydroxybenzoate derivatives. Correlation-based network analysis revealed that compared to Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz had considerably larger and highly coordinated stress-related changes, reflected in its increased metabolic network connectivity under stress. Network analysis also highlighted the structural role of major stress related metabolites, e.g., Pro, quercetin and ascorbate, which drastically altered their connectedness in the Shiraz network under water deficit.ConclusionsTaken together, the results showed that Vitis vinifera cultivars possess a common metabolic response to water deficit. Central metabolism, and specifically N metabolism, plays a significant role in stress response in vine. At the cultivar level, Cabernet Sauvignon was characterized by milder metabolic perturbations, likely due to a tighter regulation of stomata upon stress induction. Network analysis was successfully implemented to characterize plant stress molecular response and to identify metabolites with a significant structural and biological role in vine stress response.

Light pruning and deficit irrigation regimes are practices which are widely used in high yielding commercial vineyards in the warm climate regions of Australia. Little information is available on their impacts on carbohydrate dynamics in vegetative organs within and between seasons, and on the resulting plant capacity to maintain productivity and ripen fruits. This study was conducted to address this gap in knowledge over five vintages on Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Franc, Shiraz, and Cabernet Sauvignon in the Sunraysia region of Victoria, Australia. Lighter pruning did not change the total carbohydrates concentration and composition in wood and roots within seasons in Cabernet Franc and Shiraz. However, the total carbohydrate pool (starch and soluble sugars) at the end of dormancy increased under lighter pruning, due to higher vine size, associated with retention and growth of old-wood (trunk and cordons). Water deficit negatively impacted trunk and leaf starch concentrations, over the day and within seasons in Cabernet Sauvignon. Soluble sugars concentrations in these tissues tended to be higher under limited water supply, possibly due to higher sugar mobilization as photosynthesis decreased. Trunk carbohydrate concentrations markedly varied within and between seasons, highlighting the importance of interactive factors such as crop load and climate on carbon status. The period between fruit-set and véraison was shown to be critical for its impact on the balance between carbon accretion and depletion, especially under water deficit. The lower leaf and trunk starch concentration under water deficit resulted in a decrease of yield components at harvest, while similar yields were reached for all pruning systems. The sugar allocated to berries at harvest remained remarkably stable for all practices and seasons, irrespective of vine yield and carbohydrate status in vegetative organs in Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Early detection of grape phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae) infestation is vital for the implementation of post-outbreak quarantine in Australia. Remote sensing systems exploit changes in leaf pigment content associated with plant stress and offer a real possibility of a phylloxera-specific detection system. Pre-visual, symptomatic changes in the pigment content of phylloxera-infested grapevine leaves were investigated using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) as a potential aid to improve current phylloxera detection methods. A glasshouse trial was established to characterize the response of two grapevine varieties, Vitis vinifera ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ and ‘Shiraz’, to phylloxera infestation, in a controlled environment. Field trials were conducted on two grapevine varieties, V. vinifera ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ and ‘Pinot Noir’, at two sites, to compare grapevine response to phylloxera infestation under field conditions. A reduction in the leaf chlorophyll content and an increase in photoprotective pigment concentrations were observed in leaves of phylloxera-infested grapevines compared to uninfested vines. With further investigation, the identification of grapevine leaf pigment responses to phylloxera infestation may prove useful for the rapid, non-invasive, detection of phylloxera in commercial vineyards.

Regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) is a common practice applied in irrigated vineyards to control canopy growth and improve fruit quality, but little is known of how imposed water deficits may alter root growth and colonization by beneficial arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Thus, root growth and mycorrhizal colonization were determined throughout the growing season for 3 years in own-rooted, field-grown, 'Cabernet Sauvignon' grapevines exposed to three RDI treatments. Vines under standard RDI were irrigated at 60 to 70% of full-vine evapotranspiration (FVET) from 2 weeks after fruit set until harvest, a standard commercial practice. Early deficit vines were exposed to a more extreme deficit (30% FVET) during the period from 2 weeks after fruit set until the commencement of ripening (veraison), and thereafter reverted to standard RDI. Late deficit vines were under standard RDI until veraison, then exposed to a more extreme deficit (30% FVET) between veraison and harvest. The production of fine roots was reduced in both the early and late deficit treatments, but the reduction was more consistent in the early deficit vines because the additional deficit was imposed when roots were more rapidly growing. The frequency of arbuscules in fine roots was greater in both of the additional deficit treatments than in the standard RDI, a response that appeared chronic, as the higher frequency of arbuscules was observed throughout the season despite the additional deficits being applied at discrete times. It appears that grapevines compensated for a lower density of fine roots by stimulating arbuscular colonization. Irrigation did not affect yield or quality of grapes, but reduced whole-vine photosynthesis during the additional deficit periods. It appears that high-quality grapes can be produced in this region with less water than that applied under the current RDI practice because the root system of the vine may be more efficient due to greater arbuscular colonization by AMF.

Wine quality is the final outcome of the interactions within a vineyard between meteorological conditions, terrain and soil properties, plant physiology and numerous viticultural decisions, all of which are commonly summarized as the terroir effect. Associations between wine quality and a single soil or topographic factor are usually weak, but little information is available on the effect of terrain (elevation, aspect and slope) as a compound micro-terroir factor. We used the topographic wetness index (TWI) as a steady-state hydrologic and integrative measure to delineate management zones (MZs) within a vineyard and to study the interactions between vine vigor, water status and grape and wine quality. The study was conducted in a commercial 2.5-ha Vitis vinifera ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ vineyard in Israel. Based on the TWI, the vineyard was divided into three MZs located along an elongate wadi that crosses the vineyard and bears water only in the rainy winter season. MZ1 was the most distant from the wadi and had low TWI values, MZ3 was closest to the wadi and had high TWI values. Remotely sensed crop water stress index (CWSI) was measured simultaneously with canopy cover (as determined by normalized difference vegetation index; NDVI) and with field measurements of midday stem water potential (Ψstem) and leaf area index (LAI) on several days during the growing seasons of 2017 and 2018. Vines in MZ1 had narrow trunk diameter and low LAI and canopy cover on most measurement days compared to the other two MZs. MZ1 vines also exhibited the highest water stress (highest CWSI and lowest Ψstem), lowest yield and highest wine quality. MZ3 vines showed higher LAI on most measurement days, lowest water deficit stress (Ψstem) during phenological stage I, highest yield and lowest wine quality. Yet, in stage III, MZ3 vines exhibited a similar water deficit stress (CWSI and Ψstem) as MZ2, suggesting that the relatively high vigor in MZ3 vines resulted in higher water deficit stress than expected towards the end of the season, possibly because of high water consumption over the course of the season. TWI and its classification into three MZs served as a reliable predictor for most of the attributes in the vineyard and for their dynamics within the season, and, thus, can be used as a key factor in delineation of MZs for irrigation. Yet, in-season remotely sensed monitoring is required to follow the vine dynamics to improve precision irrigation decisions.

Contrasting grapevines grafted into naturalized rootstock suggest scion-driven transcriptomic changes in response to water deficit