Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Evaluating the Effects of Alleyway Management on the Performance of Dry-Farmed Pinot noir Grown in Different Soils

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/hm50v080h

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  • Vineyards in Oregon’s Willamette Valley are predominately planted to perennial grass cover in the alleyways of vineyards. This grass cover is grown to increase worker and equipment traction, as well as reduce erosion and manage vine vegetative vigor. However, with increasing frequencies of drought and warming temperatures, the use of spring tillage has been increasingly implemented to reduce competition between this alleyway vegetation and grapevines for available water and nutrients. While significant research has been conducted on the competitive relationship between alleyway vegetation and grapevines, most of this research was evaluated through the scope of regional climate. Regional climate is an important factor in understanding this relationship between vines and alleyway vegetation, but more site-specific characteristics, like soil type, may better explain how different management practices affect vine performance within a region. Soil type can vary significantly within a single vineyard. Vineyards in Oregon are predominately comprised of one or more soils, derived from four distinct parent materials: marine sediment, volcanic basalt, loess, and glaciolacustrine deposits. These soils vary in their biological, chemical, and physical properties, in turn affecting vine performance. Often, blanket vineyard floor management practices have been applied by producers to different sites, with little concern as to how soil parent material is affecting their practices, and therefore their vines. To have a better understanding of how vineyard floor management practices affect vine performance in soils formed from different parent materials, a study was conducted in the northern Willamette Valley that evaluated how two different alleyway management practices, tillage (Till) and maintained alleyway vegetation (No-Till), preformed in a vineyard with three distinct soil parent materials. The vineyard used for this study consisted of soils derived from the three parent materials, including marine sediment (Dupee), volcanic basalt (Saum), and glaciolacustrine deposits (Woodburn-Willamette) or (WW). Vine performance was monitored in Till and No-till plots over the course of two seasons to evaluate how these practices performed within each soil. Soil water content, plant water stress, tissue nutrients, vegetative growth, yield, and fruit composition were measured during each year. It was hypothesized that Till vines would have higher growth and yields, and lower plant water stress, compared to No-Till vines, regardless of soil. Till vines had higher concentrations of some macronutrients than No-Till grapevines over the course of the two growing seasons, primarily nitrogen, in all three soils. The increase in nitrogen likely played a role in the higher dormant pruning weights in the Dupee and WW soils in the second year of the study. Furthermore, Till grapevines had higher cluster weights in the Saum and WW soils during the first year of the study; however, these results did not persist into the second year, as only the Dupee soil had higher cluster weights. Tillage had a variable impact on grapevine water stress. During the first year of the study, Till grapevines in the Dupee soil had both higher stem water potential and stomatal conductance than No-Till grapevines, while Till grapevines in the WW soil had only higher stomatal conductance than No-Till grapevines. Conversely, in the second year of the study, Till grapevines in the Saum and WW soils had lower stem water potential and lower stomatal conductance compared to the No-Till vines, however, while there was no difference between treatment in the Dupee soil. During the first year of the study, Till grapevines in the Dupee and Saum soils had lower concentrations of secondary metabolites and titratable acidity (TA) than No-Till grapevines. While the impact of tillage on the accumulation of secondary metabolites did not persist into the second year, tillage had a continued effect TA, with Till grapevines in the Dupee and WW soils having higher acids than No-Till grapevines. While results from this study were variable, seasonal climate and soil clearly had an impact on vine performance. Treatment effects were most consistent in the Dupee soil and most pronounced during the first year, which had a considerably hotter and drier spring than the second year. Till grapevines in the Dupee soil exhibited lower water stress, and had higher soil water content, reduced secondary metabolite accumulation, and higher TA than the No-Till grapevines. These results highlight how low fertility soils can be more detrimental to plant vegetative growth, yield, and fruit quality in a drier year, and how tillage may be able to alleviate these symptoms. Additionally, these results show that alleyway tillage in fertile soils or in wetter years has minimal impact on vine performance and is not warranted.
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  • Pending Publication
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  • 2023-05-30 to 2024-01-11

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