Effects of Liming to Near-neutral pH on Vitis vinifera L.

  • J. Wooldridge ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij, Private Bag X5026, Stellenbosch 7599, South Africa
  • P.J.E. Louw Sapex Exports (Pty) Ltd, P.O. Box 1000, Stellenbosch 7599, South Africa
  • W.J. Conradie ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij, Private Bag X5026, Stellenbosch 7599, South Africa
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21548/31-1-1397

Abstract

Wine grape vines are sensitive to soil pH and liming. The effects of pre-plant liming at rates sufficient to promote
average soil pH levels (1M KCl) of 5.05 (unlimed, treatment L0), 5.64 (L1) and 6.56 (L2) in two wine grape (scion)
varieties and four rootstocks five years after planting were investigated over six seasons in a factorial field trial at
Stellenbosch. Yields tended to decrease in the sequence: L0 > L1 > L2, and were significantly (P = 0.05) lower in L2
than in L0. Conversely, cane masses increased progressively with lime application rate, with L1 exceeding L0 by
11.0% and L2 exceeding L1 by 13.0%. These increases were significant. Compared to L0, liming decreased the ratio
of yield to cane mass by 13.6% in L1 and 28.8% in L2, but increased Ca:Mg ratios in the soil and petioles. Wine
quality was significantly better from L0 than L2. Petiole N concentrations were above normal in all treatments.
Suppressed yields and wine quality in the limed treatments were attributed to a lime-induced imbalance between
vegetative and reproductive growth, possibly exacerbated by increased Ca:Mg ratios and excess nitrogen.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
Published
2016-12-09
Issue
Vol. 31 No. 1 (2010)
Section
Articles

A copyright form will be e-mailed to the corresponding author when the manuscript has been accepted for publication.

 

In principle, the Author agrees to the following when he/she signes the copyright agreement:

I hereby assign to the SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIETY FOR ENOLOGY AND VITICULTURE (SASEV) the copyright of the text, tables, figures, supplementary material, illustrations and other information (the Material) submitted with the manuscript to be published in SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ENOLOGY AND VITICULTURE (SAJEV) (the "Article"). The copyright becomes effective from the date the Article has been accepted for publication in SAJEV.

 

This is an open access journal, and the authors and journal should be properly acknowledged, when works are cited.

Author's may use the publishers version for teaching purposes, in books, theses, dissertations, conferences and conference papers.

A copy of the authors' publishers version may also be hosted on the following websites:

  • Non-commercial personal webpage or blog.
  • Institutional webpage.
  • Authors Institutional Repository.

The following notice should accompany such a posting on the website: This is an electronic version of an article published in SAJEV, Volume XXX, number XXX, pages XXX - XXX, DOI.   Authors should also supply a hyperlink to the original paper or indicate where the original paper (www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajev/) may be found.

Authors publishers version, affiliated with the Stellenbosch University will be automatically deposited in the University's Institutional Repository SUNScholar.

Articles as a whole, may not be re-published with another journal.

The following license applies:

Attribution CC BY-NC-ND 4.0