Growth, photosynthesis and cropping of potted grapevines (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Sauvignon) in relation to shoot trimming

The present study was conducted to evaluate how changes in leaf area affected vine growth, yield and grape quality of five-year-old potted Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines. At the beginning of flowering vines were randomly assigned to the following five treatments: untrimmed (control); shoot trimmed at either node 12 (T12) or node 6 (T6) with laterals either retained (R) or excised (X). Those four manipulations are abbreviated to: T12LR, T12LX, T6LR and T6LX, respectively. Total leaf area per vine was significantly lowered in T12LX and T6LX as compared to the other treatments, whereas lateral formation was able to offset foliage loss due to trimming in T12LR and T6LR with respect to control vines. T6LR also showed a more prolonged lateral node production. Yield per vine and its components did not differ significantly among treatments except for berry size, which was reduced in T6LR and T6LX. Grape ripening was severely retarded in T6LX, as shown by lower oBrix, pH, colour and phenolics, and higher TA, tartrate and malate. A maturity delay was also shown in T6LR as lower soluble solids and total anthocyanins per berry in comparison with untrimmed vines. No difference in grape quality versus control was shown by the T12 treatments. Post-trimming assimilation rates (A) clearly indicated a large compensation capacity of retained main leaves despite their mean age being higher than that calculated for main leaves sampled the same day on control vines. The assimilation rates recorded on lateral leaves increased proportionally with lateral shoot size and inversely to the number of main leaves retained with trimming. Based on present results, both the area and photosynthetic effectiveness of source leaves will drive overall vine responses to shoot trimming. For example, T6LX showed the worst performance with respect to the other treatments, in agreement with lowest leaf area, leaf-to-fruit ratio and oldest canopy. However, T6LR had a somewhat retarded ripening despite its non-limiting leaf-to-fruit ratio, relatively young canopy and maximum whole-canopy photosynthesis and efficiency at veraison. Under such circumstances, duration of growth and possible competition with the berry sugaring process may have played a role.