Nitrogen content in above-ground plant parts as an aid to establish more accurate fertilizer-nitrogen recommendations for grapevine

Nitrogen is the nutrient applied most frequently as fertilizer in annual and perennial crops. In grapevine, nitrogen determines the vigor and yield of vine and several attributes of must quality (Akin et al., 2012; Pérez-Alvaréz et al., 2013). The close relationship between nitrogen application, vine performance and the quality of wine requires the rational use of fertilizer-N. In addition, the excessive use of fertilizer-N may cause environmental damage (Powlson, 1993). The current recommendation systems for vine are usually based on plant analysis complemented by soil testing. These tools are important but insufficient to provide quantified rates of nutrients to apply. To increase the accuracy of the fertilization programs, data on nutrient content and dynamic in plant tissues may be helpful. In this work, nutrient content in different vine parts (leaves, canes, cordons and trunk) and at different dates (from September 14th to November 28th) was determined to understand the fate of the nutrients at the end of the growing season as a mean of increasing precision of the fertilizer recommendation system. In this extended abstract, it will be presented data on nitrogen content and dynamic in those plant tissues and dates.

Nitrogen content in above-ground plant parts as an aid to establish more accurate fertilizer-nitrogen recommendations for grapevine Conference Paper