Induction and overcoming of dormancy of grapevine buds in response to thermal variations in the winter period

Abstract

This study quantified the chilling requirements for the induction and overcoming of endodormancy (chilling-controlled physiological dormancy) of grapevines buds. Cuttings of the cultivars Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon were collected in vineyards in Veranópolis-RS in the winter period of 2019 and 2020. The cuttings were kept at a constant temperature of 7.2 °C or daily cycles of 7.2/18 °C for 6/18 h, 12/12 h or 18/6 h, up to 600 chilling hours (CH). Every 50 CH, part of the cuttings from each treatment was transferred to a temperature of 25 °C for daily assessment of the budburst in the green tip stage. The cultivars had different chilling requirements for inducing and overcoming endodormancy, reaching a total of 150 CH for ‘Chardonnay’, 300 CH for ‘Merlot’ and 400 CH for ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’. Of these, 50 CH were required to induce endodormancy in cultivars Chardonnay and Merlot and 100 CH for cultivar Cabernet Sauvignon. Dormancy evolution did not differ between cultivars in response to thermal regimes, with a temperature of 18 °C inert to the accumulation of CH. Precocity and uniformity of budburst were higher after chilling requirements were met during endodormancy for each genotype.