Soil water availability as a tool for adapting viticulture to climate change

Abstract

In the Mediterranean region, agriculture is expected to be highly affected by temperature increases and droughts resulting from climate change (CC), which have a direct effect on crop cycles, crop water demands and crop yields. Above all, decisions are required to address the improvement of water management within the framework of wide-ranging CC adaptation and mitigation strategies. In this study, net water requirements (NWRs) were estimated at the end of the century in two CC scenarios for the vine plot of the Juvé & Camps company in the Alt Penedès region. The results of future projections of soil type and, particularly, available soil-water holding capacity may be decisive in the future to optimally meet vine water requirements in the Alt Penedès region. Generally, the mean annual NWR values will increase over the course of the century and above all as from the mid-century, which together with a growth in interannual variability means that rain-fed viticulture faces and will be facing major problems associated with CC, such as drought. The biggest agronomic challenge will be how to deal with uncertainty, which can only be done by means of rain-fed cropland technification in order to learn more about the real edaphoclimatic conditions under which the grapevines grow and develop.

Keywords: climate change, rain-fed viticulture, available soil-water holding capacity, climatic projections, water requirements, Alt Penedès.