Genetic identification of Vitis vinifera L. old traditional cultivars in ancient vineyards of the “vinodol” area (Croatia)

Abstract

The Vinodol area is located about forty kilometers southeast of the city of Rijeka (Croatia). It is a small area that is dominantly located on the steep slopes of the associated mountain massif. The area is traditionally known as a wine-growing area, as evidenced by the toponym (“vino” – wine, “dol” – valley). Due to some historical and economic reasons, steep and karst terrain, vineyard areas in the last fifty years have been almost completely neglected. Viticulture has been reduced to a small number of hobby winegrowers and one larger winery. The first variety identification was carried out in the early 2000s by the Faculty of Agriculture in Zagreb, when several autochthonous varieties were identified: ‘Bilan bijeli’,

‘Ošljevina’, ‘Plavica’, ‘Verdić’, ‘Žumić’, ‘Malvazija istarska’ and the most widespread ‘Žlahtina’ variety. Through the activities of the National Program for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in 2022, 2023, and 2025, inventories were conducted in nine old, previously unexplored vineyards still existing in this area. A total of 22 samples of presumed old and unknown varieties were collected with the aim of genetic identification. The genetic analysis was carried out at the Institute for Adriatic Crops and Karst Reclamation in Split by genetic analysis of the “SSR” marker technique (“Simple Sequence Repeat”). The analysis was performed on 9 standard gene-loci (VVS2, VVMD5, VVMD7, VVMD25, VVMD27, VVMD28, VVMD32, VRZAG62, VRZAG79) prescribed by the International Organization for Vine and Wine (“OIV”) grapevine identification. Genetic profiles were compared with the Vitis International Variety Catalog (“VIVC”) database for identification purposes. The following varieties were identified by comparison: ‘Žlahtina’, ‘Bljuzgavac’ (syn. ‘Vulpea’), ‘Kuć’ (syn. ‘Mostosa’), ‘Mejsko belo’, ‘Kraljevina’, ‘Zelenika’ (syn. ‘Hainer Gruen’), ‘Chardonnay blanc’, ‘Cabernet Franc’ and ‘Brajdica bijela’. Nine samples were confirmed to be unique genotypes. One genotype was confirmed by three samples (H4, Jel8, Pl2), one genotype by two samples (Pl4, Pl23_1). Other seven were confirmed with one sample (Brajda1, Brajda2, Cr1, Jel7, B1, B3, Bl1). This research confirmed that this is an area with a much larger grapevine gene pool than was determined by previous research. Awider cultivation area was confirmed for the varieties ‘Bljuzgavac’, ‘Kuć’, ‘Mejsko belo’ and ‘Brajdica bijela’, as they were previously established in some neighboring areas but not in the observed one. Also, ‘Zelenika’ variety was confirmed for the first time in the Republic of Croatia.