Study: Coastal winegrapes can use 50% less water Winegrape growers along California’s coast can cut irrigation levels without sacrificing yield or quality in times of drought, according to a new study from theUniversity of California, Davis.
A University of California, Davis graduate student measures pho- tosynthesis on cabernet sauvignon grapevines. A study found that vineyards can use less water without compromis- ing flavor, color or sugar content.
The study found that vineyards can use 50% of the water normally used by wine- grape cropswithout compromising flavor, color or sugar content. “It is a significant finding,” said Sahap Kaan Kurtural, a viticulturalist and pro- fessor at the UC Davis Department of Viticulture andEnology. “Wedon’t neces- sarilyhave to increase theamount ofwater supplied to grapevines.” Kurtural andseveral colleagues fromhis lab carried out the study at a Napa Valley research vineyard planted with cabernet sauvignon. The study covered the 2019 and 2020 growing seasons, whichdiffered greatly: 2019was rainywhile2020wasarid, according to the university. Kurtural and his team focused on crop evapotranspiration, which is the amount of water lost to the atmosphere from the vineyard based on canopy size. Weekly testing used irrigation to replace 25%, 50% and 100% of the water lost to evapotranspiration. The study found that replacing 50% of the lostwaterwas best formaintaining the flavorprofileandyieldof thegrapes. Afun- gus thathelpsgrapevinesovercomestress-
The county’s 2019 winegrape crop was worth nearly $938 million. Sonoma County’s crop was valued at just more than $654 million in 2019, according to the county agricultural commissioner’s crop report. Other coastal regions also feature a number of vineyards. Monterey County, sometimes called “the salad bowl of the world,” produced 44,683 acres of wine- grapes in2019, while SanLuisObispoand Santa Barbara counties grew 44,304 and 14,927 acres winegrapes, respectively, ac- cording to their county crop reports.
While the UC Davis study concerned cabernet sauvignon, Kur tural said most red grapes should respond in a similar fashion. “In the end, drought is not coming for wine,” Kurtural said. “There doesn’t need to be a tremendous amount of water for grapes. If you overirrigate in times like these, you’re just going to ruin quality for little gain.” The s tudy was pub l i shed Sept . 1 in the journal Front iers in Plant Science. It is available at tinyurl.com/ UCDavisWinegrapeStudy.
es such as water deficits was not compro- mised, and water used to dilute nitrogen applicationswas reduced, thestudy found. The study found that thewater footprint for grapegrowingwas also reduced. At the 25% and 50% levels, water-use efficiency roseanywhere from18.6%to29.2%in2019 and between 29.2% to 42.9% in 2020, ac- cording to the study. Winegrapes are the top crop by far in Napa County, which had 34,824 bearing acres of redwinegrapes and 9,386 acres of whitewinegrapes in2019, according to the county’s annual crop report.
You want more than advice
AND the Full Online Program to access 21.5 DPR Hours! Three ways to participate: AGRO-EXPO IN-PERSON RENO EVENT October 17-19, 2021 7.5 DPR Hours Pre-registration required. No on-site registration accepted. FULL ONLINE PROGRAM 14.0 DPR Hours Virtual on-demand CE program, includes Label Update hours. LABEL UPDATE ONLY 4.0 DPR Hours Laws All sessions pre-recorded. Available online on-demand starting September 1st.
give you solutions
Find out what The Power of We can do for you at WilburEllisAgribusiness.com. WILBUR-ELLIS logo is a registered trademark and The Power of We is a trademark of Wilbur-Ellis Company LLC. K-160316
6 Ag Alert September 15, 2021
Powered by FlippingBook