Proceedings of the Open International Conference on Grapevine Physiology and Biotechnology 2024

Malbec is Argentina’s flagship variety, and it is internationally recognized for producing high-quality red wines. Fruit set rate is a major component in grapevine yield determination, and it is the outcome of multiple genetic and environmental interacting variables. Here, we characterized the reproductive performance of 25 Malbec clones grown under homogeneous conditions in a 23-years old experimental plot. We measured traits near flowering (like the number of flowers per inflorescence) and at harvest (including the number of berries per cluster and berry weight), during two consecutive seasons (2022 and 2023).

Vitis vinifera L., is considered one of the world's most important cultivated fruit crops. In agriculture, bunch morphology is a grapevine-specific trait, which directly impacts fruit quality and health.
Bunch size, shape, and compactness are major aspects of bunch morphology, with the degree of compactness emerging as an important trait for grapevine genetic enhancement and vineyard management. The importance of this trait stems from its impact on disease susceptibility, berry ripening, and other grape quality properties. However, current knowledge of the genes controlling it remains limited.

A major goal of modern grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) breeding programs is the introgression of resistance genes along with desirable traits for better adaptation to climate change. Developmental stages have an impact on yield components and berry composition and are expected to shift towards earlier dates in the future. We investigated the genetic determinism of phenological stages in the progeny of a cross between two grapevine hybrids, each carrying several quantitative trait loci (QTL) for downy mildew and powdery mildew resistance.

Climate change, with rise in temperatures, is leading to an advance in the dates of phenological stages, with a loss in quality of the grape final product. Therefore, the understanding of the genetic determinants driving the phenological stages of flowering, veraison and the interval between them, represents a target for the development of grapevine’s cultivar adapted to the changing environment.
Here we conducted a GWA study to identify SNPs significantly associated to flowering time, veraison time and to the interval among them. A germplasm collection (CREA-VE in Susegana, Treviso, Italy) including 649 grapevine’s cultivar representing 365 unique genotypes was considered.