A multivariate approach for the ampelographic discrimination of grapevine (Vitis vinifera) cultivars: application to local Syrian genetic resources

Abstract

Due to its unique historical and geographical emplacement, grapes have been cultivated in the Syrian Arab Republic for more than 5000 years, so the characterization of its local genetic resources is paramount for understanding grapevine natural diversity. In this work, different local Syrian table grape cultivars were characterized for 42 traits related to plant phenology, shoot, leaf, cluster, berry and juice composition. A series of multivariate analyses were sequentially performed, and five highly-discriminant traits were identified as the most discriminant ones (shoot internode length, berry weight, berry elongation, 100-seed weight and juice titratable acidity). The clustering of the cultivars according to these five traits revealed that some local Syrian cultivars share similitude with some worldwide grown cultivars, suggesting their potential as new genetic resources for the development of new high-quality table grape varieties, and indicating the needing of specific preservation programs aimed to avoid the loss of endangered genetic local resources. Besides, the statistical multivariate pipeline followed in this work is proposed as an efficient one for the selection of ampelographic traits for the discrimination of grapevine cultivars.

A double-sigmoid model for grapevine bunch compactness development

“…Considering the diverse quantitative methods available for bunch compactness evaluation (Tello and Ibáñez, 2018), we used the compactness index CI13, defined as the ratio of bunch volume (cm 3 ) to bunch length squared (cm 2 ) and calculated as detailed in Material and Methods. As reported in different grapevine cultivars (Khalil et al, 2017;Tello et al, 2016), this metric correlated significantly with the visual OIV rating obtained at harvest time in our sample (τ b = 0.67; p≤0.01), supporting its usefulness for our aim (Figure 4). The use of this index proved to be helpful to monitor bunch compactness variation from EL-29 until EL-38 stages through the direct measurement of berry diameter, berry number and rachis length.…”

Multivariate Analysis Approaches for Dimension and Shape Discrimination of Vitis vinifera Varieties

“…Grape breeding in Turkey is, in general, focused on the development of table grapes with desirable traits such as large berries and bunch size [ 20 , 24 ]. In fact, the grape berry and bunch characteristics are widely investigated in grape-growing countries, and all studies revealed significant differences among the studied varieties for the measured characters [ 22 , 23 , 25 , 28 ]. Abiri et al [ 43 ] used 55 grape varieties in their morphological analysis and reported variable berry dimensions.…”

“…Principal component analysis is one of the most important and powerful methods in both the morphometric and chemometric characterization of grape varieties, as well as PCA revealing dimension and shape differences among grape varieties [ 25 , 26 , 47 ]. Abiri et al [ 43 ] used PCA to establish the relationships among 55 grape cultivars in Iran and showed the method effective to grouping grape cultivars.…”

“…Grape varieties are traditionally characterized by ampelographic traits, based on leaf, cluster and berry morphological characteristics [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ], and they have diverse berry colour which varies from white to black with variations in purple, red, yellow, and green. Other variable berry characteristics for grapes are the fruit shapes (spherical (or round), oblate, ellipsoidal, obovoid, ellipsoidal elongated, ovoid, or oval) and cluster shapes (short conical, conical-shouldered, long conical, cylindrical, cylindrical-winged, and winged-double) [ 29 ].…”

Transcriptional Analysis of VvOSM1 Gene in Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) under Salt Stress

“…The earliest writings and chronicles clearly indicated that grapevine (V. vinifera L.) is the most important fruit species worldwide due to its traditional, religious and economic value [1]. In Syria, its unique historical and geographical emplacement encouraged its cultivation for more than 5000 years [2]. Approximately, 100 grapevine cultivars are distributed in Syria of which Halwani and Baladi production is estimated to be 30 and 20%, respectively from the total Syrian grapevine production [3].…”