Table grape breeding at the Beijing institute of forestry and pomology

• Published in: Acta horticulturae no. 1082; pp. 43 - 46
• Main Authors: Xu, H. Y, Zhang, G. J, Yan, A. L, Sun, L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Society for Horticultural Science 01.01.2015
• Subjects: cold; color; cultivars; disease resistance; females; flavor; food quality; forestry; fruit growing; hybrids; interspecific hybridization; males; mutation; ripening; seedless varieties; seedlings; table grapes; transporting quality; Vitis labrusca; Vitis vinifera; China
• ISSN: 0567-7572
• DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2015.1082.3

A breeding program was started in the Institute of Forestry and Pomology 40 years ago aiming to develop early ripening table grape cultivars with ‘Muscat’ flavor and good adaptability for local areas. Since that time approximately 150,000 hybrid plants have been grown resulting from 2,500 hybridizations. To date, twelve table grape cultivars have been released, among them, ten cultivars were obtained by interspecific hybridization in the species of Vitis vinifera, and two cultivars were selected from interspecific hybridization between V. vinifera and Vitis labrusca. ‘Aishenmeigui’ is a seedless cultivar with a purple-reddish color and sweet ‘Muscat’ flavor. It matures extremely early, usually at middle to late July. ‘Zaomeiguixiang’ is a cultivar with a color and eating quality that is similar to its female parent ‘Muscat of Hamburg’ but matures four weeks earlier. ‘Xiangfei’ is a green seeded cultivar that matures at early August with very strong ‘Muscat’ flavor and crisp flesh, average berry weight is 7-8 g. ‘Zaomanao’ is a red seeded cultivar that matures at the third to fourth week of July and has good resistance to cold. ‘Cuiyu’ is a seeded cultivar with yellow green skin color and good resistance to disease. ‘Ruiduxiangyu’ is a very crispy and sweet cultivar, with good cluster shape, berry size over 18 mm, and like its male parent ‘Xiangfei’, has ‘Muscat’ flavor. ‘Yanhong’ is a late ripening seeded cultivar with good resistance to disease. ‘Ruiducuixia’ is a seeded cultivar that matures in early August, with beautiful red color and very crisp flesh. ‘Zizhenzhu’ has purple skin color with good shipping quality. ‘Ruiduwuheyi’ is a late ripening seedless cultivar with purple reddish color; natural berry weight is 7.8 g. ‘Fenghou’ is selected from the seedlings of ‘Kyoho’ but with firmer flesh and better shipping quality. ‘Ruifengwuhe’ is from a seedless mutation of ‘Pione’ and it matures in middle September. These cultivars have been used in the Beijing area and have spread to some northern provinces. The program aims to release more seedless cultivars with ‘Muscat’ flavor.