Lateral shoots removal has little effect on berry growth of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) ‘Riesling’ in cool climate

Abstract

Bunch compactness is an important trait that affects the sanitary status and quality of wine grapes. Many studies have demonstrated that canopy managements, such as leaf removal, shoot trimming, and postponed first shoot topping, can effectively reduce compactness. However, few studies have determined the effects of canopy management measures on bunch compactness. Shoot wrapping has been previously shown to elongate the rachis length and reduce bunch compactness. Here, we tested whether the presence of laterals affects cluster growth in Vitis vinifera L. ‘Riesling’ through a field experiment with four treatments over two consecutive seasons: shoot wrapping with laterals, shoot wrapping without laterals, hedging with laterals, and hedging without laterals. Laterals were removed weekly. Lateral removal had little effect on cluster compactness; the effect was shown temporarily and not consistent the growing seasons. The effect of laterals on cluster compactness and rachis length slightly varied with years. The short-term and variable effect of laterals may be explained by the fact that they experienced little competition with clusters.

Effects of green pruning and combine microelement applications on bud fruitfulness, vegetative development and cluster characteristics of ‘Trakya İlkeren’ grape cultivar

“…The main purposes of green pruning are to improve the product quality, to limit the longitudinal growth of the older branches and shoots of the vine, to ensure that the shoots become mature and lignified, to facilitate air flow in the inner parts of the vine, that is, between the shoots and leaves, and to create the necessary sunlight environment around the clusters (Sadeghian et al, 2015). Green pruning applications contain removing unproductive primary and lateral shoots from the canopy, removing shoot tips, thinning clusters, and removing leaves to allow varying levels of sunlight exposure and air ventilation inside the canopy (Senthilkumar et al, 2015;Ye et al, 2022). Removing basal leaves is one of the most common canopy management practices in vineyards (Dry, 2000;Austin and Wilcox, 2011;Di Profio et al, 2011;Silvestroni et al, 2019;Tarricone et al, 2020).…”