The effect of rootstocks on the growth, yield and fruit quality of hybrid grape varieties in cold climate condition

Abstract

Viniculture in colder countries requires the use of rootstocks adapted to the climatic and soil conditions, which influence the essential characteristics of the vine yield in terms of the physiological and morphological features. The current study was carried out in 2015–2018 in southern Poland to examine the impact of the ‘5BB’, ‘125AA’, ‘101-14M’, ‘SO4’ and ‘Börner’ rootstocks on the growth, yield and fruit quality of three grape varieties: ‘Seyval Blanc’, ‘Johanniter’ and ‘Solaris’. The following biometric parameters were compared: the increment in the trunk cross-sectional area, number of inflorescences on the vine, total yield, mean weight of a cluster and chemical parameters, such as the total soluble solid (TSS) content and grape titratable acidity (TA). The cluster weight of the individual varieties was also assessed in eight categories by weight (0–700 g). The results showed that ‘Solaris‘ and ‘Johanniter’ grafted onto ‘Börner’ and ‘Seyval Blanc’ onto ‘5BB’ had significantly increased trunk diameters. For the ‘Solaris‘ cultivar, the ‘Börner’ rootstock increased the TSS volume by 8.2%. In the ‘Seyval Blanc’ cultivar, ‘125AA’ and ‘Börner’ reduced the TSS content and increased the content of TA in the berries. In the ‘Johanniter’ cultivar, the ‘Börner’ rootstock led to an increase in the TSS content with a concomitant increase in the TA.

Effect of Rootstock on Vineyard Establishment Using Green-Growing Benchgrafts

“…Rootstock selection affected several growth parameters, such as total shoot length, pruning weights, trunk diameter, and trunk circumference. These results align with other studies that have shown the effect of rootstocks on shoot growth [18][19][20] and trunk size [9,19,21]. Shoot length at véraison (historically for this site) was the longest in Sauvignon blanc grafted onto 101-14MGT.…”

“…Multiple growth factors such as phenology, senescence, total shoot length, trunk size, and carbohydrate reserves all showed significant variation as a function of rootstock. Although there are not many studies on the effect of rootstock on vineyard establishment, these results support other findings that show rootstocks can influence various growth factors [9,[18][19][20][21][22]. In this study, rootstock selection had an effect on phenology and senescence.…”

“…The common trend observed across these studies is that rootstock selection consistently influences pH. For example, some studies have shown that when wine grapes are grafted onto 101-14MGT, pH levels appear to be significantly higher than some of the other rootstocks [19,33,37]. As in those studies, 101-14MGT was also significantly higher than 420A and 110R in this study.…”

“…As for berry composition, there was a variation in pH and TA among rootstocks but not in total soluble solids. The influence of rootstock on berry composition is well established and has been demonstrated in several studies [5,19,33,35,[37][38][39][40]. However, there are similar and contrasting results on how rootstocks influence the berry composition among studies.…”

“…However, there are similar and contrasting results on how rootstocks influence the berry composition among studies. For example, some studies have reported differences in all three parameters (TSS, titratable acidity, and pH) [5,19,33], while others will report differences in only one or two of the three parameters [35,[37][38][39]. The common trend observed across these studies is that rootstock selection consistently influences pH.…”