How heat waves are destroying grapes

What is it about?

The steady rise in global temperatures due to climate change has made for frequent extreme weather events. Heat waves are one such example. Agriculture, in particular, has suffered from the occurrences of heat waves. For instances, vineyards exposed to extreme temperatures before harvest can often result in damaged wine grapes. This, in turn, affects the quality of the wine. In this study, researchers from the USA performed an experiment with the “Cabernet Sauvignon” grape variety to come up with an effective strategy for mitigating heat wave exposure of grapes. They either left them fully exposed or provided partial shading with 40% and 80% water replenishment for the moisture lost to heat and dry weather. When exposed to heat waves for 4 days, 25% of the berries were damaged irrespective of the amount of water replenishment. Berries that were fully exposed suffered most damage whereas doubling the replenishment amount only improved the berry temperature and hydration mildly. These results, thus, show that berries are vulnerable to climate change and need to be protected in situ for a better yield.

Featured Image

Photo by Sven Wilhelm on Unsplash

Photo by Sven Wilhelm on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Grape vineyards are commercially important for the production of wines. Since the yield of grapes is sensitive to weather conditions, it is important to assess the weathers they are exposed to before harvest. This study shows that climate change causes damage to wine berries from exposure to extreme weathers. KEY TAKEAWAY: Climate change causes extreme weather events such as heat waves that affects the yield of vineyards. Adequate measures are necessary to protect the grapes from heat exposure and damage.