Understand the determining factors in, and improve control over, the production of high-quality young plants to ensure vineyard longevity

Keywords : Grafting, rooting, nursery, plantation, reserves

The aim of the Origine project is to recommend elements of applied scientific knowledge to improve the quality of young vine plants and grafting success rates.

Its ambition is to suggest indicators to evaluate the quality, in broad terms, of plant material, and to identify ways of improving the production process for young plants and planting methods to ensure a long-term productivity of vineyards.

It also aims to ensure the transfer of information between different industry players, to contribute to their training and to improve the level of expertise related to this key stage of viticultural production.

The main themes addressed in this project are:

• the link between carbon and nitrogen reserves and the success of grafting and plantation,
• the creation of tools for assessing and modelling young plants’ root development,
• development of methods for studying the vascular connections at the graft union,
• the influence of biotic and abiotic factors on dieback in young plants, and the introduction of experiments on young plant production and plantation.

Partners

Led by Nathalie Ollat at the UMR Vine Ecophysiology and Functional Genomics (EGVF) in Bordeaux, the project calls upon the expertise of two other INRA research units: the RU Horticultural Crops and Cropping Systems (PSH) in Avignon, the UMR Forest Ecology and Ecophysiology (EEF) in Nancy. The IFV, the Richemont Training Institute, the Vaucluse Chamber of Agriculture, and Mercier Nurseries are also partners in this proje 

Actions

• Action 1 : Physiological state, management of reserves, and nitrogen balance
• Action 2 :  Rhizogenesis and root development of grafted young plants
• Action 3 :  Grafting and rootstock/graft interactions
• Action 4 : Study of certain dieback factors at the young plant stage
• Action 5 : Improvement of the processes of young plant production and planting in the vineyard
• Action 6 :  Transfer of knowledge to the users

Programme

The project runs from November 2017 to April 2021.