(118) Selection of Pollinators for `Pam' Muscadine Grape

Abstract

`Pam' is a popular muscadine grape (Vitis rotundiforia) used for the fresh fruit market. It is characterized with large berry, nice appearance, good texture and flavor, and high disease resistance. This cultivar, however, requires pollinators because it is pistillate. To select a better pollinator for this pistillate cultivar, a 2-year study was conducted at Florida A&M University in 2003 and 2005. Fresh pollen of muscadine grape `Alachua', `Nesbitt', and `Noble' was used for pollination. `Nesbitt' pollen resulted in 100% of the pollinated clusters setting fruits in both years, while pollination with `Alachua' yielded 70% (2003) to 87% (2005) of fruiting clusters, and `Noble' pollen yielded 72% (2003) and 97% (2005) fruiting clusters, respectively. Fruit numbers per fruiting cluster also varied among pollen sources. `Alachua' pollen resulted in 7.2 (2003) and 8.1 (2005) fruits per cluster, while `Nesbitt' produced 10.1 (2003) to 10.5 (2005) fruits per cluster, and `Noble' produced 8.3 (2003) and 9.0 (2005) berries per cluster. Open pollinated `Pam' had 100% clusters set fruits, averaging about 11 fruits per cluster in both seasons. No difference of berry size was observed among fruits produced from different pollen sources. Both sugar contents and acids levels were a little bit higher in 2005 than that in 2003. However, no differences of sugar content and acid level were found among the fruits derived from different controlled pollen sources. These data suggested that `Nesbitt' is a better pollinator than `Alachua' and `Noble' for `Pam' muscadine grape.