Drought memory in Grüner Veltliner grapevine

The files contain raw data of gas exchange, water potential and leaf anatomy from Grüner Veltliner grapevines collected along three years of experiments as described in Herrera et al. (2024) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/plb.13620.

When using this dataset, please cite:

Herrera, J. C., Savoi, S., Dostal, J., Elezovic, K., Chatzisavva, M., Forneck, A., & Savi, T. (2024). The legacy of past droughts induces water‐sparingly behaviour in Grüner Veltliner grapevines. Plant Biology. https://doi.org/10.1111/plb.13620

Dataset description

The files contain raw data of gas exchange, water potential and leaf anatomy. In each excel file, a sheet named "METADATA" contains information on the acquisition method for each parameter measured.

Plant material and growth conditions

Vitis vinifera cv. Grüner Veltliner, grafted on Kober 5BB rootstock, grown in 20-L pots filled with commercial substrate (CL ED73 Einheitserde, Sinntal, Germany) supplemented with 20% perlite. Grapevines were exposed to water deficit for two consecutive years, while monitoring gas exchange and water status. The third year, all the same cohort of plants were studied for gas exchange and anatomy traits under fully irrigated conditions. In years 1 and 2, plants were positioned outside and randomly arranged in three rows of 14 plants each. All pots were positioned on two stapled concrete slabs (each of 50 × 50 × 4 cm) to exclude water absorption from the soil. Rows were north–south oriented with 3.2 m between rows and 1 m between vines. A rain shelter was positioned on each row. This rain shelter (3.8 m high × 2.2 m wide) had a central semi-circular arch, with a transparent film cover (FVG Euro 4® 180-μm thick, 89% light transmittance; FVG Folien-Vertriebs, Dernbach, Germany) and open at the sides to allow air flow and avoid significant changes to the plant microclimate. In the central row, two balances (PLS 100, max. capacity = 100 kg, sensitivity = 10 g; Meter, München, Germany) were positioned below two plants (one WW, one LD) to continuously monitor plant water consumption. Crop evapotranspiration was thus measured as plant daily weight loss (ETlys; calculated as weight loss from 04:00 to 22:00 h) and used to adjust the irrigation volumes for all treatments. All plants were daily irrigated (at midnight) with a water volume equivalent to 120% ETlys until the imposition of deficit irrigation treatments. Differentiation of irrigation (hardening) was imposed in early July (DOY 192 and 177, in 1st and 2nd year, respectively) about 45 days after anthesis. The plants were divided into three irrigation treatments: (i) well-watered (WW, control), which continued to receive daily irrigation volumes equivalent to 120% ETlys throughout the entire season; (ii) short deficit irrigation (SD), watered with 35% ETlys of WW for 25 days; and (iii) long water deficit (LD), watered with 35% ETlys of WW for 70 days. Thereafter, the irrigation volumes were re-imposed at 120% ETlys for all plants. For the 3rd year experiment, all plants were pruned to two buds and moved from the field into a greenhouse to minimize climate variability and plant damage or stress (e.g. spring frost, hail, heatwaves) that could jeopardize the results. The chamber was set at 24/18 °C (day/night) and 50% relative humidity, supplemented with 12 h (07:00–19:00 h) artificial light from 10 sodium lamps positioned 1.5 m above the plants (PPFD 600 μmol·m−2·s−1 at origin). Plants were randomly arranged in six rows and daily irrigated to soil capacity (i.e. water dripping from pot base) using the same drip irrigation system described above. No differential irrigation treatments were imposed. Therefore, all plants (from now on named ex-WW, ex-SD, ex-LD) were well-watered and received the same amount of water every day throughout the 3rd year of the experiment.