Selective defoliation affects plant growth, fruit transcriptional ripening program and flavonoid metabolism in grapevine.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The selective removal of grapevine leaves around berry clusters can improve the quality of ripening fruits by influencing parameters such as the berry sugar and anthocyanin content at harvest. The outcome depends strongly on the timing of defoliation, which influences the source-sink balance and the modified microclimate surrounding the berries. We removed the basal leaves from Vitis vinifera L. cv Sangiovese shoots at the pre-bloom and veraison stages, and investigated responses such as shoot growth, fruit morphology and composition compared to untreated controls. Moreover, we performed a genome-wide expression analysis to explore the impact of these defoliation treatments on berry transcriptome.

Results

We found that pre-bloom defoliation improved berry quality

SUBMITTER: Pastore C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3599245 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature