ISHS Acta Horticulturae 754: International Workshop on Advances in Grapevine and Wine Research
REGULATED DEFICIT IRRIGATION EFFECTS IN CV. 'TEMPRANILLO' VINEYARDS GROWN UNDER SEMIARID CONDITIONS IN MID-EBRO RIVER VALLEY (SPAIN) |
| Authors: | L.G. Santesteban, C. Miranda, J.B. Royo |
| Keywords: | water management, irrigation scheduling, must quality, Vitis vinifera L. |
| Abstract:
Regulated Deficit Irrigation (RDI) is an irrigation scheduling technique originally developed for fruit orchards that has been successfully adapted for winegrape production. The aim of this work is to evaluate the effect of RDI on vegetative growth, yield and harvest quality in ‘Tempranillo’ vineyards grown under semiarid conditions typical in Mediterranean areas. Two Regulated Deficit Irrigation (RDI) strategies were compared with conventional irrigation practices (CI) that consisted in a progressive increase in water deficit as summer progressed, whereas RDI strategies (RDI1 and RDI2) had in common a deficit period just after fruit set, and in RDI2 treatment vines were subjected to an additional stress period just after veraison. All the experiments took place in 2003 and 2004 in a commercial vineyard. Water stress at the beginning of berry development resulted in an important reduction of both vegetative growth and berry weight in RDI strategies. No differences in sugar concentration were found between treatments, and RDI berries tended to have lower acidity. The most relevant effect of RDI strategies on grape quality was an increase in anthocyanin and phenolics concentration. In RDI1 berries this increase was just an indirect consequence of smaller berry size. However, in RDI2, anthocyanin gain cannot be explained completely this way, so the second deficit period somehow contributes to promote synthesis and/or translocation of anthocyanins. Since harvest quality has been clearly improved by any of the RDI strategies in both years, despite ripening periods were much more rainy than average, it can be concluded that RDI constitutes an interesting technique to be applied in ‘Tempranillo’ vineyards grown in semiarid areas aiming to obtain high quality grapes. | |
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