Monitoring Falanghina grapevine acclimation to pedo-climatic spatial variability through a multidisciplinary approach tracing functional traits in the continuum soil-plant-atmosphere

Climate-change-driven increasing temperature and frequency of prolonged drought periods are affecting vine growth and physiological behaviour in the Mediterranean region, with consequences on berry yield and quality. In this scenario, there is increasing need to improve the knowledge on how plants react to environmental fluctuations and forecast possible responses to climate changes. Moreover, the plasticity of morpho-functional aspects, on which vine acclimation relies, can vary according to the spatial variability of some environmental factors such as soil properties and microclimate in the vineyard.

The objective of this study was to analyse vine growth and production performance in four vineyards of Vitis vinifera L. subsp. vinifera ‘Falanghina’ located in southern Italy (La Guardiense farm, Campania region) subjected to different pedo-climatic conditions but characterized by vines of similar age, training system (double Guyot), spacing (≈ 4545 vines/ha). Climatic parameters were continuously monitored in each of the vineyard, through meteorological stations and FDR probes installed at three soil depths. The vineyard performance was monitored over three years characterized by different climatic conditions. Vine growth and production was monitored during the three years by quantifying morphological and eco-physiological parameters, measured in the main phenological phases, including: plant architecture, fertility, leaf anatomical traits, and grapevine photosynthetic performance through measurements in vivo of leaf gas exchanges and fluorescence chlorophyll emission. The plant nutritional status was characterized by analyzing minerals (anions, cations) and organic acids in leaves and berries. The analysis of stable isotopes in leaves, wood and must was performed to estimate the whole plant water use efficiency. Berry quality was evaluated by measuring soluble solids, pH, titratable acidity, malic acid, phenolics, anthocyanins, assimilable nitrogen etc. Microvinifications were also performed to evaluate the variability of oenological traits as well as geomorphology and pedological analyses to assess soil properties. Finally, a retrospective analysis through the analysis of anatomical and isotopic traits in tree-ring series was also carried out to achieve information on the past plant eco-physiological behaviour.

The overall analysis of data highlighted that the four vineyards can be grouped into two clusters on the basis of growth and production performance as well as of must quality, due to the spatial variability of soil properties leading to different real water availability for the plants, the different microclimates either exacerbated or mitigated by the different cultivation practices and soil management. The improvement of knowledge about the plasticity of morphofunctional traits in different pedo-climatic contexts can support forecasting future response to climatic stress conditions thus helping the management of vineyards.