Sensitivity of grapevine phenology to water availability, temperature and CO2 concentration

In recent decades, mean global temperatures have increased in parallel with a sharp rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, with apparent implications for precipitation patterns. The aim of the present work is to assess the sensitivity of different phenological stages of grapevine to temperature and to study the influence of other factors related to climate change (water availability and CO2 concentration) on this relationship. Grapevine phenological records from 9 plantings between 42.75°N and 46.03°N consisting of dates for budburst, flowering and fruit maturity were used. In addition, we used phenological data collected from 2 years of experiments with grapevine fruit-bearing cuttings with two grapevine varieties under two levels of water availability, two temperature regimes and two levels of CO2. Dormancy breaking and flowering were strongly dependent on spring temperature, while neither variation in temperature during the chilling period nor precipitation significantly affected budburst date. The time needed to reach fruit maturity diminished with increasing temperature and decreasing precipitation. Experiments under semi-controlled conditions revealed great sensitivity of berry development to both temperature and CO2. Water availability had significant interactions with both temperature and CO2; however, in general, water deficit delayed maturity when combined with other factors. Sensitivities to temperature and CO2 varied widely, but higher sensitivities appeared in the coolest year, particularly for the late ripening variety, ‘White Tempranillo’. The knowledge gained in whole plant physiology and multi stress approaches is crucial to predict the effects of climate change and to design mitigation and adaptation strategies allowing viticulture to cope with climate change

Aclimatación fotosintética, producción y calidad de plantas de vid (Vitis vinifera L.) de la variedad Tempranillo Tinto y Blanco, cultivadas en diferentes escenarios de cambio climático

Atmospheric CO2 concentration has increased from preindustrial level of 280 μmol CO2 mol-1 air (ppm) to currently more than 400 ppm. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change foresees that atmospheric CO2 concentration will continue increasing to reach at the end of this century 700 ppm. Due to its greenhouse effect, elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration is leading to higher atmospheric temperatures, a phenomenon that is being accompanied by episodes of less water availability or drought periods. Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is a plant species very sensitive to those environmental factors. Fruit-bearing cuttings of red and white Tempranillo were grown under elevated CO2 (around 700 ppm, versus 400), high temperature (ambient temperature + 4ºC, versus ambient) and water deficit (cyclic drought, versus well irrigated) in temperature gradient greenhouses located at the University of Navarra (Pamplona, Spain) for three consecutive growing seasons (years 2013, 2014 and 2015). Vegetative growth (total vegetative mass and leaf area) was significantly reduced by drought (consistent the three years) and was more associated to a worse substrate water status than to decreases in leaf water content. In spite of decreasing leaf water content in both cultivars, elevated CO2 stimulated more vegetative than reproductive growth. The largest increases of elevated CO2 were observed in leaf and root growth in white and red Tempranillo, respectively. There was a clear interaction between temperature and water availability. Yield was significantly reduced by drought and was year-dependent, being especially low in 2015 due to eventual heat shocks episodes. The high temperatures of the heat shocks (above 35ºC) induced berry burn and browning and finally loss of 50% of the berries. The response of berry quality to climate change-related factors was highly variable and depended on the year. However, some general conclusions can be reached from the three years of experimentation. Thus, the simulated climate change scenarios affected to a greater extent the technological maturity parameters (primary metabolism) than the phenolic maturity (secondary metabolism). In particular, high temperature and drought significantly and consistently increased must pH, due to the decrease in malic acid. On the contrary, elevated CO2 decreased pH associated with significant increases in tartaric acid. These changes of the must affect its quality and potentially that of the resulting wine. Under elevated CO2 concentration, grapevine photosynthesis increases, modulated by temperature and water availability. However, under prolonged exposure to elevated CO2, grapevine down-regulates photosynthesis, decreasing photosynthetic capacity. Grapevine plants underwent photosynthetic acclimation after a long exposure to elevated CO2, regardless of temperature and water availability. Evidence comes from photosynthetic capacity decreases, leaf starch accumulation, and increases in leaf carbon/nitrogen ratio. Photosynthetic acclimation was well correlated to leaf starch, but not to soluble sugars. The white Tempranillo has altered its response to prolonged exposure to elevated CO2. For any given sink size or any given leaf starch accumulation, white Tempranillo always had higher levels of photosynthetic acclimation than the red one. Data suggest that mutation in white Tempranillo has affected loci other than grape color

Aclimatación fotosintética, producción y calidad de plantas de vid (Vitis vinifera L.) de la variedad Tempranillo Tinto y Blanco, cultivadas en diferentes escenarios de cambio climático

Atmospheric CO2 concentration has increased from preindustrial level of 280 μmol CO2 mol-1 air (ppm) to currently more than 400 ppm. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change foresees that atmospheric CO2 concentration will continue increasing to reach at the end of this century 700 ppm. Due to its greenhouse effect, elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration is leading to higher atmospheric temperatures, a phenomenon that is being accompanied by episodes of less water availability or drought periods. Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is a plant species very sensitive to those environmental factors. Fruit-bearing cuttings of red and white Tempranillo were grown under elevated CO2 (around 700 ppm, versus 400), high temperature (ambient temperature + 4ºC, versus ambient) and water deficit (cyclic drought, versus well irrigated) in temperature gradient greenhouses located at the University of Navarra (Pamplona, Spain) for three consecutive growing seasons (years 2013, 2014 and 2015). Vegetative growth (total vegetative mass and leaf area) was significantly reduced by drought (consistent the three years) and was more associated to a worse substrate water status than to decreases in leaf water content. In spite of decreasing leaf water content in both cultivars, elevated CO2 stimulated more vegetative than reproductive growth. The largest increases of elevated CO2 were observed in leaf and root growth in white and red Tempranillo, respectively. There was a clear interaction between temperature and water availability. Yield was significantly reduced by drought and was year-dependent, being especially low in 2015 due to eventual heat shocks episodes. The high temperatures of the heat shocks (above 35ºC) induced berry burn and browning and finally loss of 50% of the berries. The response of berry quality to climate change-related factors was highly variable and depended on the year. However, some general conclusions can be reached from the three years of experimentation. Thus, the simulated climate change scenarios affected to a greater extent the technological maturity parameters (primary metabolism) than the phenolic maturity (secondary metabolism). In particular, high temperature and drought significantly and consistently increased must pH, due to the decrease in malic acid. On the contrary, elevated CO2 decreased pH associated with significant increases in tartaric acid. These changes of the must affect its quality and potentially that of the resulting wine. Under elevated CO2 concentration, grapevine photosynthesis increases, modulated by temperature and water availability. However, under prolonged exposure to elevated CO2, grapevine down-regulates photosynthesis, decreasing photosynthetic capacity. Grapevine plants underwent photosynthetic acclimation after a long exposure to elevated CO2, regardless of temperature and water availability. Evidence comes from photosynthetic capacity decreases, leaf starch accumulation, and increases in leaf carbon/nitrogen ratio. Photosynthetic acclimation was well correlated to leaf starch, but not to soluble sugars. The white Tempranillo has altered its response to prolonged exposure to elevated CO2. For any given sink size or any given leaf starch accumulation, white Tempranillo always had higher levels of photosynthetic acclimation than the red one. Data suggest that mutation in white Tempranillo has affected loci other than grape color

Is Tempranillo Blanco grapevine different from Tempranillo Tinto only in the color of the grapes? an updated review

Tempranillo Blanco is a somatic variant of Tempranillo Tinto that appeared as a natural, spontaneous mutation in 1988 in a single shoot of a single plant in an old vineyard. It was vegetatively propagated, and currently wines from Tempranillo Blanco are commercially available. The mutation that originated Tempranillo Blanco comprised single-nucleotide variations, chromosomal deletions, and reorganizations, losing hundreds of genes and putatively affecting the functioning and regulation of many others. The most evident, visual change in Tempranillo Blanco is the anthocyanin lost, producing this grapevine variety bunches of colorless grapes. This review aims to summarize from the available literature differences found between Tempranillo Blanco and Tinto in addition to the color of the grapes, in a climate change context and using fruit-bearing cuttings grown in temperature-gradient greenhouses as research-oriented greenhouses. The differences found include changes in growth, water use, bunch mass, grape quality (both technological and phenolic maturity), and some aspects of their photosynthetic response when grown in an atmosphere of elevated CO2 concentration and temperature, and low water availability. Under field conditions, Tempranillo Blanco yields less than Tempranillo Tinto, the lower weight of their bunches being related to a lower pollen viability and berry and seed setting

Is Tempranillo Blanco grapevine different from Tempranillo Tinto only in the color of the grapes? an updated review

Tempranillo Blanco is a somatic variant of Tempranillo Tinto that appeared as a natural, spontaneous mutation in 1988 in a single shoot of a single plant in an old vineyard. It was vegetatively propagated, and currently wines from Tempranillo Blanco are commercially available. The mutation that originated Tempranillo Blanco comprised single-nucleotide variations, chromosomal deletions, and reorganizations, losing hundreds of genes and putatively affecting the functioning and regulation of many others. The most evident, visual change in Tempranillo Blanco is the anthocyanin lost, producing this grapevine variety bunches of colorless grapes. This review aims to summarize from the available literature differences found between Tempranillo Blanco and Tinto in addition to the color of the grapes, in a climate change context and using fruit-bearing cuttings grown in temperature-gradient greenhouses as research-oriented greenhouses. The differences found include changes in growth, water use, bunch mass, grape quality (both technological and phenolic maturity), and some aspects of their photosynthetic response when grown in an atmosphere of elevated CO2 concentration and temperature, and low water availability. Under field conditions, Tempranillo Blanco yields less than Tempranillo Tinto, the lower weight of their bunches being related to a lower pollen viability and berry and seed setting

Sensitivity of grapevine phenology to water availability, temperature and CO2 concentration

In recent decades, mean global temperatures have increased in parallel with a sharp rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, with apparent implications for precipitation patterns. The aim of the present work is to assess the sensitivity of different phenological stages of grapevine to temperature and to study the influence of other factors related to climate change (water availability and CO2 concentration) on this relationship. Grapevine phenological records from 9 plantings between 42.75°N and 46.03°N consisting of dates for budburst, flowering and fruit maturity were used. In addition, we used phenological data collected from 2 years of experiments with grapevine fruit-bearing cuttings with two grapevine varieties under two levels of water availability, two temperature regimes and two levels of CO2. Dormancy breaking and flowering were strongly dependent on spring temperature, while neither variation in temperature during the chilling period nor precipitation significantly affected budburst date. The time needed to reach fruit maturity diminished with increasing temperature and decreasing precipitation. Experiments under semi-controlled conditions revealed great sensitivity of berry development to both temperature and CO2. Water availability had significant interactions with both temperature and CO2; however, in general, water deficit delayed maturity when combined with other factors. Sensitivities to temperature and CO2 varied widely, but higher sensitivities appeared in the coolest year, particularly for the late ripening variety, ‘White Tempranillo’. The knowledge gained in whole plant physiology and multi stress approaches is crucial to predict the effects of climate change and to design mitigation and adaptation strategies allowing viticulture to cope with climate change