title: Water shortage and quality of fleshy fruits--making the most of the unavoidable.
abstract: Extreme climatic events, including drought, are predicted to increase in intensity, frequency, and geographic extent as a consequence of global climate change. In general, to grow crops successfully in the future, growers will need to adapt to less available water and to take better advantage of the positive effects of drought. Fortunately, there are positive effects associated with drought. Drought stimulates the secondary metabolism, thereby potentially increasing plant defences and the concentrations of compounds involved in plant quality, particularly taste and health benefits. The role of drought on the production of secondary metabolites is of paramount importance for fruit crops. However, to manage crops effectively under conditions of limited water supply, for example by applying deficit irrigation, growers must consider not only the impact of drought on productivity but also on how plants manage the primary and secondary metabolisms. This question is obviously complex because during water deficit, trade-offs among productivity, defence, and quality depend upon the intensity, duration, and repetition of events of water deficit. The stage of plant development during the period of water deficit is also crucial, as are the effects of other stressors. In addition, growers must rely on relevant indicators of water status, i.e. parameters involved in the relevant metabolic processes, including those affecting quality. Although many reports on the effects of drought on plant function and crop productivity have been published, these issues have not been reviewed thus far. Here, we provide an up-to-date review of current knowledge of the effects of different forms of drought on fruit quality relative to the primary and secondary metabolisms and their interactions. We also review conventional and less conventional indicators of water status that could be used for monitoring purposes, such as volatile compounds. We focus on fruit crops owing to the importance of secondary metabolism in fruit quality and the importance of fruits in the human diet. The issue of defence is also briefly discussed.
authors.affiliation: INRA - Centre d'Avignon, UR 1115 Plantes et Systèmes de culture Horticoles, Domaine Saint Paul - Site Agroparc, 228 route de l'Aérodrome, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France Laboratoire de Physiologie des Fruits et Légumes, Université d'Avignon et des Pays du Vaucluse, Bât. Agrosciences, 301 rue Baruch de Spinoza, B.p. 21239, F-84916 Avignon Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ripoll
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physiologie des Fruits et Légumes, Université d'Avignon et des Pays du Vaucluse, Bât. Agrosciences, 301 rue Baruch de Spinoza, B.p. 21239, F-84916 Avignon Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Urban
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive Montpellier, CNRS, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Staudt
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physiologie des Fruits et Légumes, Université d'Avignon et des Pays du Vaucluse, Bât. Agrosciences, 301 rue Baruch de Spinoza, B.p. 21239, F-84916 Avignon Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Félicie
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lopez-Lauri
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR AGAP, Place P. Viala, F-34060 Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Luc P R
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Bidel
authors.affiliation: INRA - Centre d'Avignon, UR 1115 Plantes et Systèmes de culture Horticoles, Domaine Saint Paul - Site Agroparc, 228 route de l'Aérodrome, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France nadia.bertin@avignon.inra.fr.
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bertin
mesh_terms: D055864:Droughts; D005638:Fruit / Q000378:metabolism*; D064209:Phytochemicals / Q000378:metabolism*; D014867:Water / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D064209:Phytochemicals; D014867:Water
keywords: Water shortage; adaptation and interaction mechanisms; fruit quality; irrigation management; volatile metabolome.