Variations of soil properties affect the vegetative growth and yield components of >Tempranillo> grapevines

To obtain the best must quality, winegrowers must harvest uniform batches of grapes, thus they might define sub-units of the vineyard and treat them as separate management units for cultivation and harvest. The objectives of this work were to determine if there were variations of soil properties that could be arranged into different units of relative uniformity and separated from each other by discrete boundaries, and if there was a significant relationship between those units and the vegetative development and yield components of the grapevines. A soil index that is a linear combination of four soil characteristics was constructed and an interpolation method allowed the definition of soil areas with relative uniformity. These areas were significantly correlated with the vine growth that, in turn, had a significant correlation with the yield components of the vines. This methodology might prove useful to define areas within vineyards where the vegetative development and yields warrant a differentiated management within the vineyard. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.Peer Reviewe