Fungal Diversity in Root Restricted grapevine. Fungal Diversity

The root-zone restriction technique gives us early grape plant maturation and superior fruit quality by limiting vegetative development and increasing reproductive growth. The fungal interaction and diversity under the root zone restriction technique are still unexplored. This research was intended to have an insight about involvement of fungi in the regulation of growth and fruit quality of grapevine under root zone restriction. Rhizospheric soil, white roots (new roots), leaves, flower, and berries of root-zone restricted and control plants (conventional) were sampled at three growth stages (full bloom, veraison, and maturity). Veraison is the key stage releated to formation and quality of berry where the metabolism and diversity of mycobiomes was at its peak. Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were present in every plant compartment with variable abundance according to the plant organ and growth stages. Plant organ of the root zone restricted plants, shows a minor diversity at the early growth stages and increases at later stages than the control plants. Our conclusions is, fungal diversity is significantly influenced by root-zone restriction and growth stage while rhizospheric soil and berries were more diverse than all other plant compartments.