Abstract
Climate change will increase the occurrence of plants being simultaneously subjected to drought and pathogen stress. Drought can alter the way in which plants respond to pathogens. This research addresses how grapevine responds to the concurrent challenge of drought stress and Plasmopara viticola, the causal agent of downy mildew, and how one stress affects the other. Self-rooted cuttings of the drought-tolerant grapevine cultivar Xynisteri and the drought-sensitive cultivar Chardonnay were exposed to full or deficit irrigation (40% of full irrigation) and artificially inoculated with P. viticola in vitro or in planta. Leaves were sampled at an early infection stage to determine the influence of the single and combined stresses on oxidative parameters, chlorophyll, and phytohormones. Under full irrigation, Xynisteri was more susceptible to P. viticola than the drought-sensitive cultivar Chardonnay. Drought stress increased the susceptibility of grapevine leaves inoculated in vitro, but both cultivars showed resistance against P. viticola when inoculated in planta. Abscisic acid, rather than jasmonic acid and salicylic acid, seemed to play a prominent role in this resistance. The irrigation-dependent susceptibility observed in this study indicates that the practices used to mitigate the effects of climate change may have a profound impact on plant pathogens.
Highlights
Climate change leads to rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events
The peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities and the indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and proline levels were significantly higher in Xynisteri than in Chardonnay
No significant differences in H2O2 content, catalase (CAT) activity, and jasmonic acid (JA) content were observed between the cultivars
Summary
Climate change leads to rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events. Prolonged drought is putting a significant strain on many ecosystems [1]. Viticulture, notorious for its sensitivity to climate, is drastically affected by climate change [2,3]. With a yearly production of 77 million tonnes of grapes on 7 million ha [4], grapevine is one of the most important fruit crops worldwide. Many viticultural areas are already suffering from seasonal drought, and water availability may become the bottleneck of wine production. The Mediterranean, a hotspot for wine production, is one of the world’s regions that is most vulnerable to the impact of climate change [5]. Global warming is very likely to aggravate soil dryness in this region [5]
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