Frost resistance of grapevine cultivars of different origin

Abstract

The tests of resistance to low temperature which included a large number of grapevine cultivars showed that the cultivars bore sign of their ecological-geographical and genetic origins with respect to the resistance to low temperature.
The tests, conducted over several years, consisted of exposing cuttings of annual shoots to low temperature in a cold chamber. The tests were repeated three times each winter, following the uniform method and time, in order to be able to distinguish relative differences in the degree of resistance between the cultivars tested.
Most cultivars from Western Europe (occidentalis NEGR., gallica NEM.) had a high degree of resistance to low temperature. They tended to reach the peak of the resistance in mid winter.
The cultivars from the continental part of the Balkans (pontica NEGR, balcanica NEGR.) were unanimously sensitive to low temperature. The cultivars from the warm Mediterranean climate of Southern Europe (pontica NEGR., balcanica NEGR and occidentalis NEGR, iberica NEM.) were still more sensitive than the cultivars in the previously mentioned group.
The wine cultivars developed from interspecific crosses of European grapevines and American species exhibited a high degree of resistance in the middle and at the end of winter while the hybrids vinifera x amurensis were highly resistant at the beginning and in the middle of winter. Both groups can be used as donors of resistance to low temperature in programs of breeding cold hardy grapevine cultivars.
The tested table cultivars were found to be sensitive to low temperature, with the exception of the well-known cultivars Muscat Hamburg and Chasselas and the new cultivars Strugurash and Moldova.