Effects of Natural Hail on the Growth, Physiological Characteristics, Yield, and Quality of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Thompson Seedless under Mediterranean Growing Conditions

Abstract

Hailstorms are typically localized events, and very little is known about their effect on crops. The objective of this study was to examine the physiological and vine performance responses to natural hail, registered four weeks after full bloom, of field-grown Thompson seedless (Vitis vinifera L.) grapevines, one of the most important table grape varieties cultivated in Greece and especially in the Corinthian region in northeastern Peloponnese. Leaf gas exchange, vegetative growth, vine balance indices, cane wood reserves, yield components, and fruit chemical composition were recorded from hail-damaged vines and compared with control vines. Visibly, the extent of the hailstorm damage was great enough to injure or remove leaves as well as cause partial stem bruising and partial injury or total cracking of berries. Our results indicated that natural hail did not affect leaf photosynthesis, berry weight, total acidity, and cane wood reserves but significantly reduced the total leaf area, yield, and the total phenolics of berries at harvest. At the same time, hail-damaged vines increased the leaf area of lateral canes and presented a higher total soluble solid (TSS) accumulation, while no effect on the next year’s fertility was registered. The present work is the first attempt to enhance our understanding of the vegetative yield, berry quality, and physiological responses of grapevines to natural hail, which is an extreme and complex natural phenomenon that is likely to increase due to climate change.

Response and Ability of the Vines of Cultivar Storgozia to Recover after Hail Damage

“…Similar results were obtained by Petoumenou et al (2019), according to which lateral shoots can provide assimilation to support their growth and send the surplus to the main shoot, which contributes to the ripening of the crop. Based on the results by Baniță et al ( 2020), the natural hailstorm caused an alteration in vegetative growth grapevines due to shoot damage induced by the hailstorm.…”

“…Hail, through the damage they caused to the vine plant, most often affected its total leaf area, resulting in looser and smaller size and weight clusters and lower sugar content and total phenolic reserves of grapes. At the same time, hail-damaged vines had a larger leaf area of the lateral shoots and showed a greater accumulation of total soluble solids (TSS), but no adverse effects on photosynthesis, berry mass, grape acidity, and fertility the following year (Petoumenou et al, 2019).…”

Recovery measures and field management strategies after hailstone damage in upland cotton

“…The degree of hail damages depends on hailstone size, intensity and the kinetic energy (Saa et al 2011;Yue et al 2019). Meanwhile, the growth stage and the elasticity of the crops also important to the extent of the hailstorm damage (Petoumenou et al 2019;Yue et al 2019). The damage is earlier, the loss degree is heavier, and in contrast, the risk is relatively low during the maturation stage of crop (Zhao et al 2010), and our study proved that hailstorms during the budding stage may not result in signi cant cotton yield reductions than the seedling stage.…”

Viticulture and Winemaking under Climate Change

“…One article provides a review of the updated impacts of climate change on grapevines [14]. Some research articles are more focused on climatic factors, such as the possible impacts of decadal-scale cold waves over Europe on viticulture [15], and the grapevine response to natural hail events [16]. Other studies apply crop modeling to better understand the impact of climate change on grapevines [4,17,18].…”