EFFECT OF PLANTING POSITION ON THE VINEYARD SLOPE ON GROWTH, PRUNING WEIGHT, AND COLD HARDINESS OF GRAPEVINE CANE

Grapevine is a perennial crop whose growth and productivity can be affected by many pedoclimatic and agrotechnological factors. Currently, land terracing is a common field organization for new vineyard plantations, reducing slope on the cultivated land, and for the introduction of new areas for agricultural production. One of these pedoclimatic factors is the position of vines on vineyard slope. The aim of this paper was to assess the effect of the grapevine position on the field slope on growth expressed by pruning weight and on cold hardiness of bud and cane grapevine. The research used relatively simple methods and it was conducted in a commercial hillside vineyard from Samburesti viticultural region in Romania. The grapevines used for this study were represented by three red grape varieties: Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Sauvignon, Vitis vinifera L. cv. Merlot, and Vitis vinifera L. cv. Feteasca Neagra. Annual growth of grapevine and cane maturation in the previous growing season was influenced by slope positions. The lowest pruning weight was recorder in Merlot planted at the top of the vineyard slope. For all grapevine cultivars we found statistically significant differences between vines cultivated on the top of slope and vines cultivated on the foot of slope.