Rare Earth Elements distribution in grapevine varieties grown on different types of soils: examples from Mount Etna and from the Hyblean Plateau (Sicily, Italy)

The present contribution reports the results from a geochemical and statistical study aimed to identify in the Rare Earth Elements (REEs) absorption a good fingerprinting marks for determining the territoriality and the provenance of Vitis vinifera L. into two different geological contexts in Sicily: the volcanic district of Mount Etna and the carbonate platform of the Hyblean Plateau (Sicily, southern Italy). Our aim was to: i) define if the REEs  distribution in plants may reflect the composition of the provenance soil under similar climate conditions; ii) highlight differences, if any, in REE absorption within the various parts of the plants; and  iii) propose, for selected cultivar of Vitis vinifera L., a REE fingerprint in the Etna Volcano and Hyblean carbonate soils as well as to recognize characteristic REEs pattern.

To this aim, REE content has been determined by ICP-MS investigation in the soils and in the selected grapevine varieties for all the following parts: leaves, seeds, juice, skin and berries. Geochemical data have also been approached by a multivariate statistical analysis of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), together with the Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA).

The work permitted to highlight various REE distribution within the various parts of the plant and assessed as each grape variety presents a characteristic geochemical pattern in the absorption of REEs in relationship with the geochemical features of the type of soil on which the grapes grew.