The role of soil temperature in mediterranean vineyards in a climate change context

J Miguel Costa; Ricardo Egipto; Francisca C Aguiar; Paulo Marques; Amaia Nogales; Manuel Madeira

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1145137

The role of soil temperature in mediterranean vineyards in a climate change context

Front Plant Sci. 2023 May 9:14:1145137. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1145137. eCollection 2023.

Authors

J Miguel Costa^{1

2}, Ricardo Egipto³, Francisca C Aguiar^{2

4}, Paulo Marques⁵, Amaia Nogales^{1

2}, Manuel Madeira^{2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food, LEAF Research Center, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
² Laboratório Associado TERRA, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Lisboa, Portugal.
³ INIAV, Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, Polo de Inovação de Dois Portos, Dois Portos, Portugal.
⁴ CEF, Centro de Estudos Florestais, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
⁵ Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.

Abstract

The wine sector faces important challenges related to sustainability issues and the impact of climate change. More frequent extreme climate conditions (high temperatures coupled with severe drought periods) have become a matter of concern for the wine sector of typically dry and warm regions, such as the Mediterranean European countries. Soil is a natural resource crucial to sustaining the equilibrium of ecosystems, economic growth and people's prosperity worldwide. In viticulture, soils have a great influence on crop performance (growth, yield and berry composition) and wine quality, as the soil is a central component of the terroir. Soil temperature (ST) affects multiple physical, chemical and biological processes occurring in the soil as well as in plants growing on it. Moreover, the impact of ST is stronger in row crops such as grapevine, since it favors soil exposition to radiation and favors evapotranspiration. The role of ST on crop performance remains poorly described, especially under more extreme climatic conditions. Therefore, a better understanding of the impact of ST in vineyards (vine plants, weeds, microbiota) can help to better manage and predict vineyards' performance, plant-soil relations and soil microbiome under more extreme climate conditions. In addition, soil and plant thermal data can be integrated into Decision Support Systems (DSS) to support vineyard management. In this paper, the role of ST in Mediterranean vineyards is reviewed namely in terms of its effect on vines' ecophysiological and agronomical performance and its relation with soil properties and soil management strategies. The potential use of imaging approaches, e.g. thermography, is discussed as an alternative or complementary tool to assess ST and vertical canopy temperature profiles/gradients in vineyards. Soil management strategies to mitigate the negative impact of climate change, optimize ST variation and crop thermal microclimate (leaf and berry) are proposed and discussed, with emphasis on Mediterranean systems.

Keywords: cover crops; radiation; row-crops; soil temperature sensing; sustainable soil management; thermal data; water.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

JMC and AN were funded by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under the project UIDB/04129/2020 of LEAF-Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food, Research Unit. MM and FCA acknowledge the support by the Centro de Estudos Florestais, a research unit funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia I.P. (FCT) Portugal, through the project UIDB/00239/2020 and FCA is supported by national funds via FCT under the contracts Norma Transitória - DL57/2016/CP1382/CT0028.