A descriptive study of the microbial populations following biocontrol against powdery mildew in vineyard

Abstract

This study provides a detailed analysis of the bacterial and fungal communities in Biocontrol-treated Tempranillo grape samples, as well as in wines after alcoholic fermentation (AF) and malolactic fermentation (MLF) using the Next Generation Sequencing. Results showed that the bacterial grape community was represented by the Phyla Cyanobacteria and Proteobacteria. The acetic acid bacteria were more abundant and diverse in control wines, while the Family Enterobacteriaceae was significant in wines from Biocontrol-treated grapes. After MLF, the bacteria in both control and Biocontrol-treated samples were represented by Oenococcus oeni. Results regarding the fungal community, demonstrated that Aerobasidium pullulans had high representation, and the genus Botrytis accounted for half of the detected OTUs in both types of samples⋅ The genus Saccharomyces was predominant in control and Biocontrol-treated grapes. The alpha diversity of the bacterial and fungal communities in control grapes and wines after AF was lower than in Biocontrol samples, and the ecosystem showed no signs of risk or threat of loss of diversity. More similar studies during more years are necessary for stablishing this preliminary result as definitive and for ensuring the safety of the biocontrol in the vineyard.

Keywords

• Biocontrol
• Powdery mildew
• Massive sequencing diversity