Reducing the Losses of Three Local Grape Varieties (Vitis vinifera L.) by Cool Storage Period.

Abstract

Three local varieties of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. Jnoby, Sulaimana- Rash and Zaitony); were taken from a private vineyard in Sian village, Dinarta, Duhok, Kurdistan region-Iraq after the distinctive signs of maturity appeared for each variety from healthy grapevines of 6-years old which planted at 2×3 m spacing and irrigated by drip irrigation system for study the effect of storage periods (0, 20, 40 and 60 days at 2±1 °C and 83-88% RH) on chemical and physical characteristics plus the loss of grape berries and clusters. The vines received conventional cultivation practices with regular winter and summer pruning, weed and diseases control. Berry shattering, spoilage, weight loss, total loss and rachis condition for the varieties were estimated as a function to storage in this study. Results showed that the maximum berry shattering (1.71%) was recorded in Sulaimana-Rash variety showing a significant difference with Jnoby variety (0.48%). The highest values of percent spoilage and total loss were recorded in variety Zaitony (20.17 and 26.36%) respectively. The maximum weight loss (10.24 %) was recorded in variety Jnoby which was significantly higher than the other two varieties (Sulaimana-Rash and Zaitony). Spoilage percentage, weight loss and total loss significantly increased with increasing storage periods (23.48, 12.13 and 32.83%) respectively. There were significant interaction effects on weight loss and total weight loss percentages among the varieties, the storage periods showed a maximum value was started after 60 days of the beginning of storage (14.33%) in Jnoby variety, while highest total loss (60.25%) was recorded in Zaitony.