Physiological and Molecular Responses of Cabernet Sauvignon (Vitis Vinifera L.) to Novel Water Management Strategies

Download or read book Physiological and Molecular Responses of Cabernet Sauvignon (Vitis Vinifera L.) to Novel Water Management Strategies written by Xiaochi Ma and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Washington state is currently the second largest premium wine producer in the United States, with Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Sauvignon as one of the top produced varieties. Grape production in Washington not only depends on natural rainfall, but also on supplemental irrigation given the semi-arid climate. However, competition for agricultural water availability between grapes and other staple crops has become intense due to unstable climatic patterns and local policies, making efficient water management essential for sustainable viticulture and the development of the wine industry in Washington. Using Cabernet Sauvignon as a model variety, this project aimed to improve efficiency of water management by investigating the effects of novel irrigation strategies and watering regimes on grapevine physiology and grape production. Chapter one provides a comprehensive review of grapevine performance under water stress and discusses strategies to enhance water management in vineyards. Chapters two to four describe the implementation of a novel subsurface drip irrigation strategy named direct root-zone irrigation (DRZ) and summarize grapevine responses. Compared with traditional surface drip irrigation, DRZ increased leaf net CO2 assimilation rate and yield, reduced shallow root growth, and showed potential to save water and enhance crop water use efficiency without reducing grape quality. DRZ likely increased soil water availability but did not show significant effect on root growth in the deep soil profile. Finally, a greenhouse study described in chapter five investigated the responses of grapevine to four different watering regimes, which revealed that increasing watering rate after veraison did not improve grape yield and quality, but it helped improve carbon assimilation in leaves and relieved water stress in grapevines during later growing stages. Moreover, a negative correlation was found between peroxisome abundance in leaves and midday stem water potential, which provides a cellular readout to better understand grapevine growth under water deficit. Overall, this project provides new ways to improve water productivity and advances the understanding of physiological and molecular responses of grapevines to water stress.