Vitis vinifera L. (Grape vine)

Crop Type: Tree crop

Breeding system: Predominantly autogamous

Vitis vinifera is the most cultivated fruit crop from the Vitis genus, which contains about 60 inter-fertile wild species (This et al. 2006; Emanuelli et al. 2013). Although its cultivation focuses predominantly on the production of wine, the production and consumption of table grapes (fresh berries) and raisins (dried grape) are common. Its area of production is over 7464 Mha across the world and the global wine production is around 269 MhL.

Vitis vinifera has a great diversity in grapevine varieties (8,400 in the world, http://www.oiv.int/en/statistiques/) and, as a consequence, these show great variability in terms of plant architecture, bunch characteristics (size, shape and colour), relative duration of the reproductive cycle and many other qualitative and quantitative traits. Grapevine is known to adapt well to a wide range of cropping systems and environments such as dry and semi-dry regions; but despite the drought tolerance, grapevine grown under low water conditions presents limitations in development, normal ripening and reduced berry quality. Varieties solely or partially derived from other Vitis spp. are grown in other wine regions of the world, namely France, Italy, Spain, United States, Argentina, Australia, South Africa, China, Chile, Germany, Russia, Portugal, Romania, Greece, New Zealand, Hungary, Brazil, among others.

The great majority of grapevine varieties are predominantly self-pollinating, with occasional occurrence of wind-mediated cross-pollination.

References

• Emanuelli, F., Lorenzi, S., Grzeskowiak, L., Catalano, V., Stefanini, M., Troggio, M., Myles, S., Martinez-Zapater, J.M., Zyprian, E., Moreira, F.M., Grando, M. S. (2013) Genetic Diversity and Population Structure Assessed by SSR and SNP Markers in a Large Germplasm Collection of Grape. BMC Plant Biology 13(1):1–17.
• This, P., Lacombe, T., Thomas, M. R. (2006) Historical Origins and Genetic Diversity of Wine Grapes. Trends in Genetics 22(9):511–19.

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