In this section:
Climate Applications & Crop Physiology
Viticulture, climate and crop scientists work together focusing on the adaptation and management of water and temperature-stressed vines.
The Viticulture program provides a comprehensive and innovative research platform aimed at improving the adaptive capacity and resilience towards environmental stresses. This imperative involves a significant partnership between government, industry and research organisations.
Climate risk refers to both season-to-season climate variability and longer-term climate change. South Australia as the driest state is vulnerable to both season-to-season variability and the longer term outlook is for hotter and drier conditions with more extreme weather due to climate change. Climate shift in the Murray Darling Basin has put current irrigation practices and businesses under pressure.
Viticulture managers will need to deal with:
- Reduced water availability
- Reduced water quality
- Increased root zone salinity
- Higher temperature
- Higher atmospheric CO2
SARDI is well placed to tackle the issues in a coordinated approach, actively promoting interactions across its science disciplines to draw on the talents of innovative thinkers, further supported through partner agencies.
Although viticulture is exposed and sensitive to climate change, the grapevine is an adaptive plant. The climate applications team is working to explore the adaptive capacity at the vine, vineyard and winery level.
Currently the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation (GWRDC) is funding research investigating the impacts of the timing, intensity and duration of heat stress on the phenology, yield components and berry composition of Shiraz. For this, vines are tested at critical growing periods in state-of-the-art facilities that simulate heat stress under realistic field conditions. The research highlights the importance of understanding and managing the four-way interaction between heat stress, irrigation, canopy-fruit load and variety.
Temperature drives crop development. In collaborative research, SARDI has completed a GWRDC-funded analysis of historical climate and vineyard records to model the effect of temperature on grapevine development and wine styles. The project has made a breakthrough in compiling the first scientific report documenting the actual rates of change in maturity associated with recent warming. For Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay across Australia, maturity has advanced at rates between half and three days a year since 1996. The analysis indicates that each degree change in temperature alters maturity by seven days. This has implications for the management of harvest operations. Technological improvements including better management of crops and improved wine making techniques have helped to maintain wine quality with varying regional responses identified.
Knowledge arising from projects will provide a foundation for industry to adapt to climate change. However, with prolonged drought, there is now a need to accelerate, strengthen and add new dimensions to this research. New technologies such as advanced fertigation, subsurface irrigation and multiple irrigation systems will be needed to help plants cope with rising temperatures and reduced irrigation allocations.
More about Climate Applications
Viticulture, climate and crop scientists work together focusing on the adaptation and management of water and temperature-stressed vines.
Read more about temperature, vines and vines - SciTopics (external link)
