24-epibrassinosteroid and jasmine oil improve vegetative growth and productivity of Flame Seedless grapevines under abiotic stresses

Abiotic stresses such as high temperature, humidity fluctuations, and excessive light negatively impact grapevine physiological functions, resulting in irregular vegetative growth and reduced productivity. Natural plant growth regulators and essential oils offer potential eco-friendly strategies to mitigate these adverse effects. This study investigated the effects of foliar applications of 24-epibrassinosteroid (Br) at concentrations of 1, 2, and 3 mg/L and jasmine oil (JO) at 500, 1,000, and 1,500 µL/L on Flame Seedless grapevines exposed to abiotic stress. The treatments aimed to enhance vegetative development, nutrient uptake, biochemical attributes, and yield. Results showed that all treatments successfully improved the vegetative growth of Flame Seedless grapevines by increasing leaf area, shoot length, diameter, number of leaves/shoots, pruning wood weight, internode length, and coefficient of wood ripening. They also improved the mineral content in leaf petioles, total carbohydrates in canes, chlorophyll contents in leaves, and yield per vine. In addition, the quality of the Flame Seedless grapevine was improved by increasing cluster weight, length, width, berry firmness, length, width, soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), SSC/TA ratio, total sugars, phenols, anthocyanin, and flavonoids, activities of peroxidase (POX), phenylalanine ammonialyase (PAL), polyphenoloxidase (PPO) and catalase (CAT) enzyme in berry. Application of Br at 3 mg/L yielded the highest significant values for vegetative growth parameters, yield, and physical characteristics. While JO at a rate of 1,500 µL/L increased the total phenols, flavonoids, and anthocyanin, as well as PPO, PAL, POX activity, and CAT in the berry. Foliar application of Br and JO effectively mitigated the adverse effects of abiotic stress in Flame Seedless grapevines.