# Early Basal Leaf Removal at Different Sides of the Canopy Improves the Quality of Aglianico Wine
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Anthocyanins Profile  
Table 3 shows the anthocyanin composition of the wines as a function of season and leaf removal. Fourteen anthocyanins were identified and quantified, among which the most abundant were malvidin-3-glucoside, petunidin-3-glucoside, delphinidin-3-glucoside, petunidin-3-glucose, trans-malvidin-3-coumaroyl-glucose and peonidin-3-glucose. The anthocyanin profile of wines reflects that of the starting grapes; in accordance with the results reported in a previous work and as expected, both season and leaf removal exerted a strong effect on all anthocyanins, which was also observed in the grapes [26]. The 2017 wines were characterized by an increased anthocyanin content, with values 17% higher than those from 2018 and four-fold those from 2016. The wines from the three seasons were characterized by the same anthocyanin composition in terms of the prevalence of non-acylated forms (about 87%) followed by acetylated forms (5.4-5.8%), coumaroylated forms (6.1-6.5%) and the caffeine form of malvidin-3-caffeoyl-glucose (about 0.7%). Regarding the effect of leaf removal, it caused an increase in anthocyanin content, which was more pronounced when defoliation was carried out on the south side (+40%) with respect to the north (+24%) and north-south sides (+21%). This finding is in agreement with the results reported in a previous work, where defoliation increased the anthocyanin compounds in grapes that were used in winemaking [26]. As expected, the composition of anthocyanins was slightly influenced by defoliation: the proportions of non-acylated forms were 83.4, 85.1 and 88.1% for the south, north-south and north sides, respectively, versus 87.8% in the control wines; acetylated forms accounted for 5.1, 5.2 and 6.4% (north, north-south and south sides, respectively) versus 5.3% in the control; and coumaroyl forms represented 6.5, 9.2 and 9.5% (north, north-south and south sides, respectively) versus 6.2% in the control. Overall, defoliation led to a higher total anthocyanin content in the wines. This finding confirms that the removal of leaves positively affects the synthesis of these compounds. Concerning anthocyanin composition, the treatment caused a slight modification of the profile due to the differing exposure of the fruits to sunlight, UV radiation and temperature [38]. Concerning the S*LR interactions, significant differences were observed for all anthocyanins, with the exception of Pt-Ac. The S*LR interaction for non-acylated and total anthocyanins is illustrated in Figure 3. With regard to Dp, leaf removal had no effect in 2016, led to an increase on the south side and a decrease on the north-south side in 2017, and resulted in an increase with all three defoliation treatments in 2018 (Figure 3a). Among the defoliation treatments, a decrease in  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Source of** & **Dp** & **Cy** & **Pt** & **Pa** & **Mv** & **Dp-Ac** & **Pr-Ac** & **Mv-Ac** & **c-Mv-Cm** & **Cf** & **Pr-Cm** & **P-m** & **t-Mv-Cm** & **TA** \\ \hline Season (S) & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & \\
2016 & 76.8b & 0.6c & 10.3c & 3.9c & 75.3b & 1.5b & 0.3b & 1.1c & 3.6c & 0.2b & 0.8c & 0.8b & 0.4c & 5.8c & 111.3b \\
2017 & 23.9a & 2.2a & 36.2a & 13.9a & 26.8a & 5.0a & 0.9a & 4.0a & 13.0a & 0.8a & 3.0a & 2.8a & 1.5a & 20.4a & 392.3a \\
2018 & 21.4a & 1.4b & 31.2b & 9.6b & 230.9a & 5.1a & 0.8a & 2.3b & 9.9b & 0.3b & 2.3b & 2.2a & 1.0b & 17.0b & 335.2a \\ Significance & *** & *** & *** & *** & *** & *** & *** & *** & *** & *** & *** & *** & *** & *** \\ \hline Leaf removal (LR) & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & \\ Control & 15.0b & 1.0b & 21.8c & 6.7b & 161.4b & 3.5 ab & 0.5b & 1.6b & 6.9b & 0.2b & 1.6b & 1.5b & 0.9 ab & 11.9b & 234.5b \\ North & 18.0 ab & 1.6 ab & 27.0 ab & 10.1a & 200.2 ab & 4.1a & 0.7 ab & 1.8b & 8.3b & 0.2b & 1.8b & 1.7 ab & 1.1a & 15.0a & 291.6 ab \\ South & 19.8a & 1.7a & 29.6a & 1  
Cy was registered in 2017 (Figure 3b) and a significant increase in Pt was observed with defoliation on the south side in 2017 and on all sides in 2018 (Figure 3c).