Modelling virtual Riesling canopies for reducing sunburn risks in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) berries

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Katrin Kahlen; Dr. Dominik Schmidt
• Subject Area: Plant Cultivation, Plant Nutrition, Agricultural Technology
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 449374897

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

This project aimed to provide the first model-based analysis of sunburn in grapes, a recurring disease with a link to climate change. Since sunburn only occurs when grapes are exposed to direct sunlight at a warm day, the canopy architecture itself may already protect berries from sunburn. More frequent heat waves, especially after quality enhancing leaf removal, could significantly increase the incidence of sunburn in future climates. Therefore, we not only wanted to simulate sunburn, but also to gain insight into vineyard management practices favorable to reduce sunburn. Sunburn simulations were found to be highly sensitive to local wind speed, so that calibration with field experiments was necessary. A larger simulation study covering several possible future temperature scenarios on differently oriented vineyards and a risky leaf removal strategy provided first insights into favorable canopy configurations and a valuable expandable data set for in-depth analysis. Results suggest that leaf removal should be considered in relation to row orientation to mitigate berry sunburn; a northeast-southwest oriented vineyard may be more tolerant of leaf removal than a north-south oriented vineyard.

Publications

• In silico analysis of grapevine architectural response to elevated CO2. In FSPM2020 - Toward Computable Plants, 2020
  D. S., C. B., M. F. & K. K.
  
• Leaf removal effects on light absorption in virtual Riesling canopies (Vitis vinifera). in silico Plants, 3(2).
  Bahr, Christopher; Schmidt, Dominik; Friedel, Matthias & Kahlen, Katrin
  
• Missing Links in Predicting Berry Sunburn in Future Vineyards. Frontiers in Plant Science, 12.
  Bahr, Christopher; Schmidt, Dominik & Kahlen, Katrin
  
• Testing leaf removal strategies and their effects on light absorption in virtual Riesling canopies (Vitis vinifera L.). In FSPM2020 - Toward Computable Plants
  Bahr, Christopher; Schmidt, Dominik; Friedel, Matthias & Kahlen, Katrin
  
• Digitaler Riesling: Neuste Entwicklungen. In 61. Arbeitstagung vom Forschungsring des Deutschen Weinbaus bei der DLG, 2022
  C. B., D. S., M. F. & K. K.
  
• Towards a Stochastic Model to Simulate Grapevine Architecture: A Case Study on Digitized Riesling Vines Considering Effects of Elevated CO2. Plants, 11(6), 801.
  Schmidt, Dominik; Kahlen, Katrin; Bahr, Christopher & Friedel, Matthias
  
• Virtual Riesling - a functional-structural grapevine model for climate impact research. In International Conference on Digital Technologies for Sustainable Crop Production (DIGICROP), 2022
  C. B., D. S., M. F. & K. K.
  
• Virtual Riesling Vineyard: Towards in-silico simulation studies on growerclimate-crop interactions for mitigating negative impacts of climate change. In 7th International Symposium on Plant Growth Modeling, Simulation, Visualization, and Applications, 2022
  K. K., C. B. & D. S.
  
• Sonnenbrand an Beeren im Digitalen Riesling. In 62. Arbeitstagung vom Forschungsring des Deutschen Weinbaus bei der DLG, 2023
  C. B., D. S., M. F. & K. K.
  
• Towards berry sunburn simulations with the functional-structural plant model Virtual Riesling, 10th International Conference on Functional-Structural Plant Models, 2023
  C. B., D. S. & K. K.
  
• Chapter Virtualization in Mathematical Modeling and Simulation: Introduction for Scientists and Engineers (2nd Ed.). Wiley-VCH, Berlin, 2024. ISBN 978-3-527-41414-7
  K. V., D. S. & K. K.