Evaluation of tetralone abscisic acid as a novel budbreak delay and spring frost damage mitigation product in vineyards

View the project final report

Commodities

• Fruits: grapes

Practices

• Crop Production: foliar feeding, other, tissue analysis

Higher frequency of temperature extremes under climate change poses great challenges to grape growing in Northeastern U.S. Among these temperature extremes, late spring frost directly threatens the survival of fragile but most fruitful primary buds, leading to significant crop losses when damage occurs. However, current management methods are either not applicable or not economically friendly to the growers with established smaller vineyards, compromising their use in Northeastern U.S. Some budbreak delaying products were recently evaluated for their potentials to mitigate spring frost damage in grapevine. Among these products, abscisic acid (ABA) analogs exhibit both ease of application and efficacy of budbreak delay in preliminary testing; two characteristics favored by growers. In this proposed project, we will evaluate an ABA analog, tetralone ABA, for its feasibility as a budbreak delaying product for grapevine through 1) monitoring its impact on grapevine dormancy and freezing tolerance in dormant season; 2) monitoring its impact on grapevine growth and physiology in the growing season; 3) evaluating its impact on yield components and fruit composition; and 4) uncovering the mechanism of its budbreak delaying effect using comparative transcriptomics. The findings from this study will be introduced to NY grape and wine community through collaborating with Cornell viticulture extension programs and to nation-wide grape and wine industry through presenting at the 2023 American Society of Enology and Viticulture Annual Conference. The result from this project will directly benefit grape growers and contribute to the long-term sustainability of the grapevine and wine industry in the Northeastern U.S.

The overall goal of the proposed project is to determine whether an ABA analog, tetralone-ABA, can be used as a budbreak delaying product in vineyards to effectively manage late spring frost without negative impacts in the dormant and growing seasons, and the underlying mechanism of its delaying effect through a systematic approach by long-term monitoring of grapevine physiology and RNA-seq. The specific objectives are:

1. Monitor the impact of tetralone-ABA on dormant season physiology, including freezing tolerance dynamics and the transition between endodormancy and ecodormancy.
2. Identify the underlying mechanism of tetralone-ABA’s delaying effect on budbreak using comparative transcriptomics
3. Monitor the impact of tetralone-ABA on grapevine phenology and physiology during the growing season
4. Evaluate the impact of tetralone-ABA on yield component and fruit composition