South Africa Wine Research Projects

2. VITICULTURE RESEARCH PROJECT IN PROGRESS

2.2 GRAPEVINE PROTECTION – FUNGI AND BACTERIA

BREEDING WINE GRAPES RESISTANT TO POWDERY AND DOWNY MILDEW

P04000058 Ms Phyllis Burger, ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij, Stellenbosch Project is co-funded by the ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij

Start date: 2014 Flagship Project

AIM AND INDUSTRY RELEVANCE: The aim, ultimately, is to breed new, high yielding cultivars, that will produce high quality V. vinifera type wine and have tolerance to downy and/or powdery mildew and/or to Botrytis under local conditions. In this project crosses are made to develop cultivars with disease tolerance and good crop and wine making characteristics. Objectives of the project include: • Screening of seedlings obtained from crosses for tolerance to downy and powdery mildew; • Identifying potential parents with disease tolerance and suitable qualities to be used in crosses; • Making crosses, stratifying and germinating seeds; • Developing and establishing seedlings in tunnels and older plants in vineyards; • Identifying and importing cultivars with tolerance to fungal diseases, if possible.

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SOUTH AFRICA WINE RESEARCH 2024