Grapevine Salinity Tolerance

Salinity, in the form of high sodium chloride concentrations within soil, is one of the abiotic stresses that threatens the grape and wine industry in Australia. Climate change, drought and water restrictions have heightened concerns about future supplies of freshwater for irrigation, increasing reliance on poorer quality water and prevalence of salt-affected soils.

Sodium and chloride ions can accumulate to significant concentrations in leaves and fruit causing "leaf burn", stunted growth, and can lead to the development of undesirable ‘salty' tastes in grapes and wine. Furthermore, limits imposed on the amount of both sodium and chloride in wine can be exceeded if vines cannot adequately exclude these toxic ions.

In grapevines, chloride is the major toxic ion. However, sodium commonly has lower acceptable limits in wine. One potential solution to accumulation of excess sodium and chloride is the development of grapevine varieties with a reduced retention of these ions within the fruit, a strategy that includes use of "excluding" rootstocks. However, little is known about the mechanisms that result in both sodium and chloride accumulation in vines and berries.

Our research is focused upon finding the mechanisms responsible for sodium and chloride exclusion in grapevines. Such information is vital for breeding programs if they are to advance in a reasonable timeframe as germplasm can be pre-screened for the presence of tolerance mechanisms.

This work is supported by funding from the GWRDC and Fosters Group. 

Researchers involved include Dr Matthew Gilliham, Professor Steve Tyerman, Professor Mark Tester (ACPFG), Dr Rob Walker (CSIRO), Dr Mandy Walker (CSIRO) and Dr Paul Petrie (Fosters Group).

Please contact Matt Gilliham for more information.

University of Adelaide Research Team 

Dr Matthew Gilliham Senior Research Fellow	Steve Tyerman Professor of Viticulture
Tintu Baby PhD Student funded by GWRDC Grapevine nutrition and fruitset(with Cassandra Collins)	Adrie De Waal Masters Student Salinity stress in grapevines (with Paul Petrie (Fosters) and Pichu Rengasamy)
Related projects supervised by M. Gilliham
Bo Li PhD Student Chloride transport in plants (with Stuart Roy and Mark Tester, ACPFG)	Jiaen Qiu Masters Student Chloride transport in plants (with Stuart Roy, ACPFG)