Deficit irrigation strategies on yield components and quality of Vitis vinifera L. ‘Touriga Franca’ under Mediterranean climate

I graduated with a B.S. in Biology from the Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto (FCUP), Porto, Portugal, in 2012. I then obtained an M.S. in Biological Aquatic Resources. In 2015, I began an M.S. in Agricultural Engineering studying irrigation in vineyards at the same institution. I am a member of "GreenUPorto – Sustainable Agrifood Production" Research Centre and am currently a PhD student. My goal is to understand how irrigation affects fruit and wine production in the Douro Region, one of the oldest production regions of the world. In this region, irrigation was considered a detrimental factor until recently. Grape production of wine is one of the most important agricultural products with a total of 6,557,592 hL produced in 2017. This region is predicted to be one of the most affected by climate change. With decreasing precipitation, rising temperature, and increasingly frequent extreme events, the study of irrigation is becoming critically important for grape production. The application of different quantities of water in two different periods is being studied in two field-grown native cultivars widely used in the region, ‘Touriga Franca’ and ‘Touriga Nacional’. Production under irrigation is being compared to the common practice of non-irrigation. This work aims to understand how applied water will affect both platform field determinations, including leaf water status, total leaf area, pruning weight, canopy density, number of clusters, and weight of clusters per plant. Berry analysis at harvest will also be performed to compare quality parameters like probable alcohol, anthocyanins, polyphenols content, pH, total acidity, and malic acid content in the different irrigation treatments. The trial started in 2015 and the results have been encouraging even despite inter-annual climate variability. Some results are promising, with an improvement in the fruit quality and yield.

Inês Cabral won an ISHS Young Minds Award for the best oral presentation at the IX International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops in Italy in June 2019.

Inês Cabral, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 1021/1055, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal, e-mail: ines.cabral@fc.up.pt

The article is available in Chronica Horticulturae