Creation and study of the Pinot noir variety lineage

Abstract

The objective of the study presented here is to obtain pure line genotypes able to transmit to cross progeny the most useful characters to wine grapes, particularly the berry colour of Pinot noir. From the very heterogenous Pinot noir variety we chose a clone INRA-Colmar as the initial parent of a generation series. In the first 3 generations of self pollination we selected only red berries genotypes. After the 4th generation we made 'pedigree' selections with seedling separation, retaining not only the red berries population but also some white ones. This series of generations shows only a weak 'inbreeding' effect. Numerous populations with strong vigour and high fertility were observed. During these crosses, types of bunches and berries have appeared which were very different in shape from the original parent. Types range from the round berries of the Pinot noir to elliptical, ovoid, troncovoid, cylindrical or other kinds of berries. Berry size is also highly variable. We obtained bunches from small to very big with variable compactness. We obtained homogenous populations for such characters as berry colour, sexual type, vigour and fertility. These characters can be considered as homozygous after the 6th generation. This study shows the necessity of making numerous generations of self pollination to obtain homozygous forms of useful characters, which are generally polygenic. These observations must be confirmed by test crosses and in the meantime the self pollination program will be continued to enable us to fix the unstable characters.