Vine Vigor and Fruit Characteristics of Muscadine Grapes

Abstract

Muscadine grape industry in the southeastern United Sates is expanding in recent years. To provide necessary information for the growing industry, 50 muscadine grape cultivars were evaluated for vigor and fruit characteristics at Florida A&M Univ., Tallahassee, Fla. Vine vigor was measured by winter pruning weight and varied from 5.4 lb/vine to 35.7 lb/vine. Among these cultivars, Triumph, Summit, and Tara were the least vigorous, while `Carlos', `Fry Seedless', and `Gold Isle' produced the most pruning weight. Dry scar ranged from 60.6% (Darlene) to 97.7% (Dixie Red). Among the most important table grapes, `Nesbitt', `Alachua', `Jumbo', `Fry', `Triumph', and `Scarlete' showed more than 70% of dry scars. Fruit rot ranged from 0.3% (Gold Isle) to 31.8% (Dixie Land). `Noble', `Scarlet', `Nesbitt', and `Carlos' were the important cultivars with less than 5% rotted fruits. Commercial fruit index were different significantly among the cultivars, ranged from 45.5% to 96.4%. Higher commercial fruit index of table grapes were found with `Magnolia', `Rosa', `Scarlet', and `Tara', while `Dixie Land' (45.5%) was the least. Seeds per fruit varied among the cultivars, ranging from 2.4 to 4.9. Fewer fruit seeds were found in `Fry' and `Nesbitt', while `Granny Val', `Senoria', `Darlene' and `Triumph' had more seeds per fruit than the others. Seed size also differed among the cultivars. `Sugar Pop' had the largest seeds (0.144 g/seed), which was twice as the size of the smallest seeds of `Welder' (0.056 g/seed). Fruit soluble solids content (SSC) ranged from 11.7% to 16.9% among the cvs. evaluated. Higher SSCs were found in `Welder', `Fry Seedless', `Scarlet', and `Cowart', while `Senoria' and `Jumbo' had relatively low SSC.