Nowadays, there is a growing concern about micronutrient deficits in food products, with
agronomic biofortification being considered a mitigation strategy. In this context, as Zn is essential
for growth and maintenance of human health, a workflow for the biofortification of grapes from
the Vitis vinifera variety Fernão Pires, which contains this nutrient, was carried out considering
the soil properties of the vineyard. Additionally, Zn accumulation in the tissues of the grapes
and the implications for some quality parameters and on winemaking were assessed. Vines were
sprayed three times with ZnO and ZnSO4 at concentrations of 150, 450, and 900 g ha1 during
the production cycle. Physiological data were obtained through chlorophyll a fluorescence data, to
access the potential symptoms of toxicity. At harvest, treated grapes revealed significant increases
of Zn concentration relative to the control, being more pronounced for ZnO and ZnSO4 in the
skin and seeds, respectively. After winemaking, an increase was also found regarding the control
(i.e., 1.59-fold with ZnSO4-450 g ha1). The contents of the sugars and fatty acids, as well as the
colorimetric analyses, were also assessed, but significant variations were not found among treatments.
In general, Zn biofortification increased with ZnO and ZnSO4, without significantly affecting the
physicochemical characteristics of grapesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
