Nitrate and potassium concentration in fertigated soil cultivated with wine vines.

In the semiarid region of Brazil the use of irrigation systems for applying fertilizers in horticulture is the primary means for incorporating nutrients in the soil. However, this technique still requires its use in wine vines to be assessed. In view of this, this study aimed to assess nitrate and potassium concentrations in soil fertigated with nitrogen and potassium fertilizers in 3 wine grape growing cycles. A field experiment was conducted with ?Syrah? wine grapes, in Petrolina, Pernambuco, Brazil; it assessed five nitrogen doses (0, 15, 30, 60 and 120 kg ha-1) and five K2O doses (0, 15, 30, 60 and 120 kg ha-1) applied by drip irrigation system with two emitters per plant, with a flow rate of 4 L h-1. The experimental design used was the factorial split-plot, making up 13 combinations arranged in 4 randomized blocks. Soil solution samples were collected weekly with the aid of porous cup extractors for all treatments and at depths of 0.4 and 0.6 m by determining nitrate and potassium concentrations and electrical conductivity. Increased levels of both nutrients in the irrigation water increased the availability of nitrate and potassium in the soil solution. The highest nitrate and potassium concentrations were found in the second growing cycle at both depths studied.

The development of the viticulture for a high quality tropical wine production in the world.

2011

Climatic groups in Ibero-America viticulture compared to worldwide wine producer regions.

The wine production is an important activity in many Ibero-American countries. The wine producer regions of these countries configure a large use of different climate types and viticultural climates. In a vitivinicultural zoning project of CYTED (Ibero-American Program for Science, Technology and Development), a viticultural climatic characterization was done in this macro viticultural region. The project have assembled a climatic database that characterizes the viticultural regions, including relevant variables for viticulture: air temperature (mean, maximum, and minimum), precipitation, relative humidity, solar radiation, number of sunshine hours, wind speed, and evapotranspiration. Using indices of the Geoviticulture MCC System (HI, CI and DI), more than 70 viticultural regions in different countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Spain, Mexico, Peru, Portugal and Uruguay) were characterized according to its viticultural climatic. The results, which will be integrated to the worldwide database of the MCC System, showed that the Ibero-American viticulture is placed in a wide range of climatic groups of the wine producing regions around the world. This article presents the climatic groups found in Ibero-America, identifying also some new climatic groups not yet found in other regions of the world. This work also identifies some climatic groups not found in Ibero-America viticulture. The research has also highlighted viticultural areas characterized by climates with ?intra-annual climatic variability?, with the potential to produce more than one growing cycle per year. The results allow to conclude that the wide variability and climatic diversity present in Ibero-America may be one of the reasons to explain the diversity in terms of wine types, sensorial characteristics, typicity and uniqueness of wines produced on this macro-region.

High altitude wine in Santa Catarina, Brazil: a collective brand.

2010

Development of methodology for the determination of organic acids in must, grape juice and wine by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

2012

Detection of ochratoxin A in tropical wine and grape juice from Brazil.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is the main mycotoxin found in grapes, wines and grape juices and is considered one of the most harmful contaminants to human health. In this study, samples of tropical wines and grape juices from different grape varieties grown in Brazil were analysed for their OTA content by high-performance liquid chromatography. The detection and quantification limits for OTA were 0.01 and 0.03 ?g L?1 respectively. OTA was detected in 13 (38.24%) of the samples analysed, with concentrations ranging from <0.03 to 0.62 micron g L-1. OTA was not detected in any of the grape juice samples. Most of the red wine samples proved to be contaminated with OTA (75%), while only one white wine sample was contaminated. However, the OTA levels detected in all samples were well below the maximum tolerable limit (2 micron g L-1) in wine and grape juice established by the European Community and Brazilian legislature. The results of this study indicate a low risk of exposure to OTA by consumption of tropical wines and grape juices from Brazil.