Resumen de Origin of Termarina cultivar, another grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) parthenocarpic somatic variant
Manna Crespan, M. Giust, Roberto Carraro, D. Migliaro
Background and Aims Molecular synonyms need to be confirmed by ampelographic description. Preliminary molecular data showed that four accessions of CREA-Vit collection may correspond to the Sciaccarello cultivar; nevertheless, only one of them had normally developed seeds, whereas the others were seedless. This study aimed to identify these accessions and to assess the origin of the seedless types.
Methods and Results An integrated molecular (23 simple sequence repeat markers) and ampelographic approach (70 Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin descriptors) was used. The four accessions showed the same molecular profile and belonged to Sciaccarello cépage. Morphological and phenological descriptors were in agreement with the conclusion inferred from the molecular data, with the seedless vines being somatic variants of the seeded cultivar Sciaccarello. The seedless accessions were shown to be parthenocarpic and mostly differed from the wild type in the traits related to the absence of seeds. Beyond the prominent differences in the bunch and berry morphology, the seedless variant commenced veraison and ripened about 1 week earlier than the accession with seeds.
Conclusions Our results suggest that the seedless Termarina cultivar is a somatic variant of Sciaccarello cépage.
Significance of the Study The study describes in detail another case of parthenocarpic variant in grapevine. Current knowledge about these types of variants is limited.
