New crossbreed winegrape genotypes cultivated under rainfed conditions in a semi-arid Mediterranean region
Abstract
Traditional drought tolerant varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Monastrell, and Syrah [1], have been used as parents in the grapevine breeding program initiated by the Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario y Medioambiental (IMIDA) in 1997 [2]. This work presents the results of evaluating three new genotypes obtained from crosses between ‘Monastrell’ and ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ (MC16 and MC80) and between ‘Monastrell’ and ‘Syrah’ (MS104), comparing their performance under conditions of water scarcity and high temperatures with that of their respective parental varieties. For this purpose, the six genotypes were cultivated under controlled irrigation conditions (60% ETc) and rainfed conditions. Physiological, production, grape quality, and wine quality parameters were evaluated during 2022. The preliminary results obtained show that, under the experimental conditions of the study, all the evaluated parameters varied significantly between genotypes and irrigation treatments. Under rainfed conditions, the new genotypes had suitable yields, all of them showing higher yields than ‘Monastrell’, the reference variety in the area. Regarding phenolic quality under rainfed conditions, MC16 and MC80 exhibited an average total phenol content (TPC) in skin and seeds of 4757 mg Kg grape-1 and 5097 mg Kg grape-1, respectively, significantly higher than that of the parental varieties. In addition, MS104 ripened and was harvested with a very low sugar content (10.3 °Baumé), making it very interesting and suitable for the production of low-alcohol wines in warm areas. These results suggest that the new genotypes could adapt better than the parental ones to the conditions of water scarcity and high temperatures in the area, maintaining suitable yields and high phenolic quality. If these results are confirmed in successive years, these new genotypes could better tolerate the negative effects of water scarcity and high temperatures on productivity and grape and wine quality.
Acknowledgments: The authors thank Carlos V. Padilla, Eliseo Salmerón and Isidro Hita for crop health control. This work was financed by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación via project PID2020-119263RR-100.
References:
1) Fraga, H. et al. (2016). Climatic suitability of Portuguese grapevine varieties and climate change adaptation. Int. J. Climatol., 36(1), 1-12, DOI: 10.1002/joc.4325
2) Ruiz-García, et al. (2018) Nuevas variedades de vid obtenidas en la Región de Murcia. Actas Hortic., 80, 226–229.
DOI:
Issue: ICGWS 2023
Type: Article
Authors
1 Molecular Genetic Improvement Team, Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarollo Agrario y Medi-oambiental (IMIDA), C/ Mayor s/n, La Alberca, 30150 Murcia, Spain.
2 Oenology and Viticulture Team, Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarollo Agrario y Medioambiental (IMIDA), C/ Mayor s/n, La Alberca, 30150 Murcia, Spain.