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Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Optically-assessed preformed flavonoids and susceptibility of grapevine to Plasmopara viticola under different light regimes

Giovanni Agati A F , Zoran G. Cerovic B , Anna Dalla Marta C , Valentina Di Stefano C , Patrizia Pinelli D , Maria Laura Traversi E and Simone Orlandini C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Istituto di Fisica Applicata ‘Nello Carrara’, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50119 Sesto Fiorentino (Firenze), Italy.

B Equipe de Biospectroscopie Végétale, Laboratoire d’Ecologie Systématique et Evolution, CNRS, UMR 8079, Bât. 362, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France.

C Dipartimento di Scienze Agronomiche e Gestione del Territorio Agro-forestale, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Piazzale delle Cascine 18, 50144 Firenze, Italy.

D Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Universita’degli Studi di Firenze, Via U. Schiff 6, 50019 Sesto F.no (Firenze), Italy.

E Istituto per la Valorizzazione del Legno e delle Specie Arboree (IVALSA), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019, Sesto F.no (Firenze), Italy.

F Corresponding author. Email: g.agati@ifac.cnr.it

Functional Plant Biology 35(1) 77-84 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP07178
Submitted: 20 July 2007  Accepted: 23 October 2007   Published: 25 January 2008

Abstract

The role of flavonoids in the response of plants to Plasmopara viticola, the phytopathogen agent of downy mildew, was studied in the Vitis vinifera L. cultivar Sangiovese. Grapevines in the vineyard were exposed to two light regimes, 100% and 35% of full sunlight in order to induce differences in total leaf polyphenolic content. Epidermal leaf phenolic compounds were assessed optically, using the Dualex chlorophyll fluorescence-based portable leaf-clip. Dualex data were calibrated by means of HPLC analysis of extracts from the same measured leaves. Good correlations were obtained with total flavonoid contents, which consist mainly of quercetin 3-O-glucuronide. From the Dualex non-destructive measurements, we showed that full-sun exposed leaves contained 75% more flavonoids than shaded leaves. Inoculation of leaves with P. viticola sporangia resulted in a significantly lower infected leaf area in sun-lit leaves compared with shaded ones, as seen from subsequent analysis of the downy mildew severity. These results indicated an inverse relationship between preformed flavonoids and the susceptibility of grapevines to downy mildew. The rapid optical method for the non-destructive assessment of flavonoids presented here could be useful for large scale screening and predicting V. vinifera susceptibility to P. viticola.

Additional keywords: chlorophyll fluorescence, downy mildew, optical sensors, polyphenols, Sangiovese, Vitis vinifera L.


Acknowledgements

We like to thank Jean-Luc Ayral, CEO of the FORCE-A company, for a complimentary loan of a Dualex Flav during the 2006 growth season and the Provincia di Firenze for the use of the Chianti vineyard at the Mondeggi-Lappeggi farm. The authors are grateful to Luca Martinelli and Marco Napoli (Dip. Scienze Agronomiche e Gestione del Territorio Agro-forestale, Università di Firenze) for their very efficient assistance in the in field measurements, and to Daniele Grifoni and Francesco Sabatini (IBIMET-CNR) for performing spectroradiometric detections.


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