Rootstock: Scion combinations and nutrient uptake in grapevines

Abstract World viticulture is based on grafted grapevines, where scion is a cultivar of Vitis vinifera and rootstock is either and American Vitis species or an interspecific Vitis hybrid. The paramount relevance of root systems is their key role at the interface between grapevine and soil for water uptake and nutrient mining. Understanding of interactions among cultivars, rootstocks, and nutrient content in grapevines is expanding, demonstrating that rootstocks differ in their nutrient levels in grafted cultivars. In regions with lower rainfall, where leaching of soluble salts is often incomplete, soil salinity can be a serious constraint to grapevine production. Salinity-associated problems include decreased soil-water availability and accumulation of chloride, sodium, and boron that lead to toxic levels in plant tissues. Differences in nutrient uptake and distribution leading to fulfill productive demands or to reach toxicity levels are indeed influenced by rootstocks’ absorption capability or affinity for some specific nutrients, also influencing scion growth as adaptive response to abiotic stress constrains, modulating vine growth and productivity to express potential productivity and attributes of target cultivar in respective terroir or environmental conditions, thus opening strategies to cope with increasing environmental challenges due to climate change.