Tolerance to Lime - Induced Chlorosis and Drought in Grapevine Rootstocks - Abiotic Stress: Plant Responses and Applications in Agriculture - page 281

Figure 2. Deep lossening of soil in clay loam soil.
An adequate care about the root system and its proper development is very important and
should be started immediately after the establishment of a new vineyard. This means that it is
necessary to create and maintain a required ratio between thick and thin roots. The root system
can be modelled by means of a cut off of roots so that they produce more branches, the total
volume of root mass increases and the sorption area for the uptake of nutrients grows up.
Usually and most frequently, this cut off takes place during the process of deep soil loosening
and/or deep supplementary fertilisation. After these operations, the total volume of roots is
partly reduced but the recovery is very quick. If, however, this intervention is too drastic, it
may show a negative effect on the overall growth process of grapevine plants. The cutoff and
shortening of roots should be performed at best at the beginning of the growing season, i.e. in
the period of exogene dormancy, and should not be done every year because the optimum
development of roots would be disturbed and plants could be under a permanent stress. It is
recommended to use a deep additional fertilisation in three-year cycles.
A good understanding of effects of a limited availability of water on the growth of the root
system and its functions has a principal influence on the selection of a suitable method of
vineyard management (Schultz, 2010) and also on the selection of a suitable rootstock. In both
temperate and Mediterranean regions, the growth of grapevine root system takes place above
all within the period starting on flowering and finishing at the beginning of softening of berries
(Comas et al., 2010). Drought-resistant rootstocks (e.g. 1103P) show a capability to create new