Soil – plant system: a case study of Vitis berlandieri x Vitis rupestris rootstock varieties

Lanthanides are part of rare earth elements. Nowadays studies focused on these elements are increasing to assess the possibility to their use in the traceability to effectively determining the geographical wine origin. In the traceability project we start studying the soil plant system. The aim of the research was to verify if different varieties of rootstock on identical soil have similar lanthanides uptake behavior and if the same rootstock could reproduce different lanthanides distribution for different soil typologies. Three different varieties of rootstock V. berlandieri X V. rupestris (1103 Paulsen, 779 Paulsen and 140 Ruggeri), planted on different soils (carbonatic, clayey and volcanic soils), were observed. In particular, vegetative parameters and root distribution during the growth season were described and the chemical behavior of Y, La and lanthanides was studied to evaluate and trace the distribution from soil to roots and leaves of different rootstocks. The uptake of lanthanides and their distribution in grapevine system were studied under controlled conditions following the plants growth in pots. The experimental system consisted of a set of 81 vines (27 per rootstocks) implanted, in groups of nine, on the three different types of soil. To study the metal distribution, the main part of plants: roots, stem, shoots and leaves were analyzed. Different rootstock showed different vegetative characteristics while soils affected mainly the roots distribution. The obtained results in terms of lanthanides were critically discussed on the basis of the different amount presents in all parts of plants.