Vineyard under-vine floor management alters soil microbial composition, while the fruit microbiome shows no corresponding shifts

Ming-Yi Chou,Justine Vanden Heuvel,Terrence H Bell,Jenny Kao-Kniffin,Kevin Panke-Buisse

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-29346-1

Abstract

The microbiome of a vineyard may play a critical role in fruit development, and consequently, may impact quality properties of grape and wine. Vineyard management approaches that have directly manipulated the microbiome of grape clusters have been studied, but little is known about how vineyard management practices that impact the soil microbial pool can influence this dynamic. We examined three under-vine soil management practices: 1) herbicide application, 2) soil cultivation (vegetation removal), and 3) natural vegetation (no vegetation removal) in a Riesling vineyard in New York over a three-year period. The microbiomes associated with soil and grapes were profiled using high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16 S rRNA gene and fungal ITS regions. Our results showed that soil bacterial composition under natural vegetation differs from that seen in glyphosate-maintained bare soil. Soil fungal composition under the natural vegetation treatment was distinct from other treatments. Although our study revealed soil microbiome shifts based on under-vine management, there were no corresponding changes in fruit-associated microbial composition. These results suggested that other vineyard management practices or environmental factors are more influential in shaping the grape-associated microbiome.

Highlights

Vineyard management practices impact fruit and wine composition through many routes[1]
Our multi-year experiment examined whether different under-vine soil management practices could alter grape-associated microbial composition
While a previous study suggested that soil management in the vineyard can impact soil microbial assemblages[25] and that grapevine aerial organ-associated bacterial Operational Taxonomic Units (OTU) likely originated from soil[23], we hypothesized that implementing different under-vine soil management practices would alter soil microbial composition, but that the grape-associated microbiomes would reflect these changes

Summary

Introduction

Vineyard management practices impact fruit and wine composition through many routes[1]. Regionally-differentiated yeast genotypes collected from vineyards, forests, and spontaneous fermentations are confirmed to have different impacts on wine chemical composition[15]. These studies suggest the importance of a biological component to regional wine typicity through vineyard microbiome by indicating the significance of specific vineyard properties on wine characteristics as a function of microbiome composition. To express this role, “microbial terroir” was defined as traits of the land that impart a distinct profile of wine that is www.nature.com/scientificreports/. Differentiated grape microbial management using different phytosanitation sprayers derived predictable results, while masking the effect of other management practices on grape microbial ecology

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