The XIVth International Symposium on Grapevine Breeding and Genetics is held in Zagreb (Croatia) from June 28 to July 2, 2026.
The event is organised by the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb in collaboration with Institute for Adriatic Crops and Karst Reclamation Split, Institute of Agriculture and Tourism Poreč, Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences Osijek.
Clonal selection remains central to grapevine improvement, yet consistent yield and fruit quality across vintages are challenged by pronounced genotype-by-environment interactions (G×E).
The climatic conditions of southern Brazil favor the incidence of fungal diseases in grapevines, which hampers the cultivation of Vitis vinifera varieties.
The South Caucasus is widely recognized as a primary center of grapevine domestication (Vitis vinifera L.).
Climate variability and rising biotic pressure threaten global viticulture. Modern wine production depends on a limited number of grapevine cultivars, represented by multiple clones that differ slightly in their agronomic, oenological, or stress-tolerance traits.
Modern viticulture faces a critical paradox. The widespread adoption of clonal selection in the mid-20th century successfully standardized production and reduced viral incidence through sanitization and certification, but unintentionally created a genetically simplified vineyard landscape.
In Korea, summer rainfall and comparatively less favorable growing conditions than major grape-producing countries have influenced the direction of table grape breeding.
Past VitisGen projects (VitisGen, 2012-2017, and VitisGen2, 2017-2022) generated groundbreaking technologies for the grapevine breeding community, from low-cost DNAmarker platforms to advances in computer vision phenotyping.
Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is one of the most ancient and culturally significant plant species, domesticated over 11,000 years ago.
The wild grapevine, Vitis vinifera L. subsp. sylvestris (Gmelin, Hegi), is spontaneous to Europe and has gained increasing scientific attention in recent years due to its rapidly declining populations and its valuable, yet largely unexplored, genetic pool.
Grapevine diseases pose a major threat to viticulture worldwide, causing substantial yield losses and jeopardizing the long-term sustainability of vineyard systems.