Archives of Agriculture Research and Technology
[ ISSN : 2832-8639 ]
An Exploratory Analysis of Yield, Fruit Composition, and Single Vine Wines of Interspecific Cold-hardy White Grapevine Breeding Lines
1Department of Plant Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, USA
2Western Agriculture Research Center, Montana State University, USA
3Department of Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering, North Dakota State University USA
4Briess Malt & Ingredients Company, USA
5Department of Crops and Soil Science, Washington State University, USA
Corresponding Authors
Keywords
Abstract
Grapevine production in North Dakota is limited by extreme weather events such as freeze events in late spring, early fall, and winter. The North Dakota State University Grape Germplasm Enhancement Project was established to screen, identify, and develop grapevines with potential for long-term success within North Dakota’s environmental constraints. To increase understanding of production and enological trait relationships, single vine fermentations were conducted in the fall of 2018. Grapevine harvest metrics, fruit composition, and wines were analyzed using principal components analysis to reduce dimensionality. Multiple relationships identified in principal component analysis were explored for trends within breeding material; among them, negative linear relationships were observed between berry mass and total soluble solids. A similar negative linear relationship was noted between cluster mass and total soluble solids. These results are likely driven by the diverse grapevine backgrounds utilized in various crosses and warrant further consideration as part of breeding goals and selection criteria for North Dakota. This work captures a snapshot of hybrid grapevine breeding populations undergoing selection in the 2018 season and provides an exploratory overview of seedling trait variation through descriptive statistics and factor analytics. Continued selection and intercrossing among promising lines are anticipated to give rise to more consistent grapevine growing options for North Dakota farmers; extended and improved phenotyping and screening methods will enhance the effectiveness of selection.