Deep Roots: Understanding geochemistry and nutrient mobility in vineyard soils to enhance soil management practices at Pelee Island Winery

Pelee岛上160多年的酿酒历史证明，葡萄在富含粘土的土壤中茁壮成长，这些土壤被称为托莱多粘土，占主导地位。该酒厂正在投资研究，这将指导他们的土壤管理战略，以提高他们的葡萄和岛上种植的堆肥的产量和质量。 此外，酒庄希望确定有助于该地区风土的独特土壤特性，并希望在未来被宣布为一个名称。目前，葡萄园每隔几年就测试一次土壤顶部40厘米的主要元素含量，但深层葡萄根可以从6米深处获得养分，而土壤和基岩矿物的风化对土壤中可用养分的影响知之甚少。该项目将确定在Pelee岛葡萄园的整个生根深度对营养素可用性的地球化学控制。具体目标是：1）确定基岩地质在土壤组成中的作用，2）评估矿物学和作物改良剂如何影响土壤整个深度的养分供应，3）确定土壤中的微量元素是否转移到葡萄中。矿物学、基岩深度、有机质含量、pH值和元素流动性在整个土壤剖面深度上的变化可以解释酒厂经理的一些观察结果，例如：为什么托莱多粘土深处的植物生长得更有活力，为什么用岛上种植的苜蓿堆肥处理过的葡萄园富含镁，为什么葡萄藤通常喜欢排水良好的土壤，在粘土上茁壮成长，Pelee岛的肥沃土壤。该项目的结果将使贝利岛酒厂加强土壤管理的领域，以提高养分供应的植物（例如添加添加剂或改变土壤pH值），制定未来的种植策略（例如，葡萄园土壤质量和深度的变化可能适合不同的葡萄品种或砧木），并推广他们的优质葡萄酒，这些葡萄酒体现了该地区独特的风土条件，希望获得称号地位。

Over 160 years of winemaking on Pelee Island have demonstrated that grapes thrive on the clay-rich soils known as the Toledo clay that dominate the island. The winery is investing in research that will direct their soil management strategies to increase the production and quality of their grapes and the island-grown compost. In addition, the winery wishes to identify the unique soil properties that contribute to the terroir of this region, with the hope of being declared an appellation in the future. Currently the vineyard tests the major element content of the top 40 cm of the soil every few years but deep vine roots can access nutrients from depths of 6 m and little is known about the impact of weathering of both soil and bedrock minerals on the nutrients available in the soils. This project will identify the geochemical controls on nutrient availability over the entire rooting depth in the vineyards on Pelee Island. The specific objectives are to: 1) determine the role that bedrock geology plays in soil composition, 2) assess how mineralogy and crop amendments influence nutrient availability over the entire depth of the soil and 3) determine whether the trace elements in the soil are transferred to the grapes. Variations in mineralogy, depth to bedrock, organic matter content, pH and element mobility over the depth of the entire soil profile may explain some of the observations made by the winery manager such as: why plants on the deeper parts of the Toledo clay grow with more vigour, why vineyards treated with island-grown alfalfa compost are rich in magnesium and why grape vines that typically prefer well drained soils thrive on the clay-rich soils of Pelee Island. The results of this project will enable Pelee Island Winery to enhance soil management on a field by field basis in order to improve nutrient availability to the plants (e.g. adding amendments or changing soil pH), develop future planting strategies (e.g. variations in soil quality and depth across the vineyard may suit different grape species or root stocks), and market their premium wines that embody the unique terroir from this region with the hope of gaining appellation status.****