National Wine and Grape Industry Centre
Seminar - Can Carbohydrate Reserves Provide An Indicator Of Vine Balance In Hot Climate Vineyards?
This video is the presentation by Dr Jason Smith - please contact Tamara Howlett for more information
This presentation took place at the NWGIC on Wednesday 5 August 2009.
Dr Jason Smith presented a seminar titled 'Can carbohydrate reserves provide a physiological indicator of vine balance in hot climate vineyards?'
Synopsis
‘Vine balance’ is a term widely used to describe the relationship between vegetative growth and yield, and is known to have a significant impact on berry composition and wine quality. Traditionally, vine balance has been described in terms of the relationship between leaf area and fruit weight, or the more easily measured fruit weight to pruning weight ratio. However, such broad definitions do not take into account variations in photosynthetic capacity that may arise with different training systems and vineyard management practices. They may also be less appropriate for hot climates, where long post-harvest periods allow vines to carry crop loads that would be unsustainable in cooler climates.
This presentation provided an overview of the carbohydrate reserve research undertaken at the NWGIC, and then outline an approach by which carbohydrate reserve dynamics during ripening may be used as a physiological indicator of vine capacity to ripen a given crop load to desired quality specification.
For more information please contact Dr Jason Smith: jasmith@csu.edu.au