BRAZILIAN GRAPE GERMPLASM BANK: PHENOLOGY AND INCIDENCE OF MAIN FUNGAL DISEASES

Abstract

In the last years, viticulture has reached a very important role in Brazilian fruit production, not only in temperate zones, but also as an alternative for tropical regions. These different climates require cultivars with wide-ranging production cycles. In Brazil, phytosanitary treatment can reach 30% of production costs. Genetic breeding can play a role in the development of new cultivars with different production cycles and more tolerance to the main fungal diseases. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the phenology and disease incidence of grape accessions of the Brazilian germplasm bank in order to give support to the breeding program. For ten years, 700 accessions were evaluated and classified regarding growth cycle length as very early (0,6%), early (13,9%), medium (43,6%), late (41,8%) or very late (0,3%). In the same period, 1,100 accessions were evaluated for disease resistance. The Brazilian grape germplasm bank maintains resistance sources to the main fungal grape diseases that occur in the country. However, resistance to downy mildew and anthracnose were less widespread in the studied sample. More information about the Brazilian grape germplasm bank can be found on the web (http://www.cnpuv.embrapa.br/prodserv/ germoplasma/). These results are assisting the development of new grape cultivars, in order to give support to the evolution and expansion of Brazilian viticulture.