Morphological, physio-biochemical and molecular response of grapevine rootstocks to moisture and salinity stress-A review

Abstract

Rootstock usage in grape cultivation in most of the grape growing regions of the world was started in Europe in late 1800’s when thousands of acres of grapes were affected by incidence of soil borne pest namely phylloxera root louse. From then onwards use of rootstocks was inevitable in those countries to overcome many biotic stresses such as nematodes, root rots, diseases etc. But, in many of the semiarid and arid climatic conditions where grape is grown on large scale, abiotic stresses such as soil and water salinity, water scarcity are the major constraints. Poor vine growth, severe foliar damage due to excess salt accumulation coupled with drastic reduction in productive life span of own rooted grapevines necessitated the use of rootstocks to combat these abiotic stresses also. Many of the grape rootstocks are known to possess drought and salt tolerant traits which can be seen on grafted scions through several mechanisms at both cellular and whole plant level. The present review focuses on mechanism of rootstocks to overcome adverse situations of moisture stress and salinity stress at morphological, physio-biochemical, nutritional and molecular level.