RESPONSE OF VITIS VINIFERA CV. 'BOBAL' AND 'TEMPRANILLO' TO DEFICIT IRRIGATION

J.L. Salón, J.V. Méndez, C. Chirivella, J.R. Castel
Experiments on drip deficit irrigation were conducted in two representative commercial vineyards in Requena (Valencia, Spain), during the 2000 season (total rainfall 254 mm). The vineyards were planted to Bobal and Tempranillo, the two main cultivars grown for red wine production in the area. Treatments consisted in a rain-fed control (T1), and several (four and six, respectively, for each cultivar) irrigation treatments, in which water was applied at different levels during three phonological periods: flowering to fruit set; fruit set to veraison; and veraison to maturity. The irrigation treatments, expressed as percentages of ETcrop applied at the three periods, were: for Bobal, 50-50-0 (T2), 100-100-0 (T3), 100-100-50 (T4) and 100-100-100 (T5); and for Tempranillo, 0-66-0 (T2), 0-100-0 (T3), 100-33-0 (T4), 100-66-66 (T5), 100-100-33 (T6) and 100-100-66 (T7) The treatments were applied in a randomized complete-block design with four replicates of 64 vines per plot for Bobal and six replicates of 100 vines per plot for Tempranillo. The cultivars differed in the response of yield, berry growth and composition, and wine quality parameters to the irrigation treatments. All irrigation treatments increased the yield of Bobal due to increases in berry weight. The concentration of juice soluble solids (Brix) and the alcoholic content of wines were slightly decreased by irrigation. Irrigation increased the titratable acidity in musts but not in wines. Irrigation also reduced the quality of Bobal wines due to the dilution effect produced by the increased berry weight which reduced the concentrations of anthocyanins, total phenolics and color intensity. In Tempranillo, berry size also tended to increase with irrigation but yield was only significantly higher in the most irrigated treatment (T7, 77 mm of seasonal water application). Irrigation significantly increased the concentration of juice Brix and the alcohol content of the wines in response to the three highest irrigation levels (T5, T6 and T7), while the must pH and the total phenolics and color intensity of the wine were practically unaffected. Yield, berry weight, anthocyanins, total phenolics and the color intensity of red wines of Bobal, but not of Tempranillo, were closely correlated with the water stress integral calculated from early-morning stem water potential determinations.
Salón, J.L., Méndez, J.V., Chirivella, C. and Castel, J.R. (2004). RESPONSE OF VITIS VINIFERA CV. 'BOBAL' AND 'TEMPRANILLO' TO DEFICIT IRRIGATION. Acta Hortic. 640, 91-98
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2004.640.9
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2004.640.9
yield, berry size, must composition, stem water potential, water stress integral, red wines
English

Acta Horticulturae