Development of an Organic Table Grape Production and Market in Switzerland

In Switzerland there is an increasing consumer demand for residue-free, organic table grapes. The organic cultivation of table grapes, however, is very delicate in humid climates and experience to advice organic growers is still lacking. The goal of our project that has started in 2004 is to develop and establish a cultivation system for organic table grapes under Swiss climatic and economic conditions with a high yield security and fulfilling the high quality demands of the market. Preliminary results: Interesting cultivars to produce are e.g. Fanny, Lilla, Palatina. However they are disease susceptible and must be produced under a rain roof. Better suited cultivars still need to be found. Consumer acceptance for organic table grapes produced in Switzerland is very positive. However changes towards new cultivars and lower production costs are necessary. Spray programs to achieve sufficient disease protection and no spray blotch seem to be realizable, mainly for production under rain roof

Ethanol Vapours to Complement or Replace Sulfur Dioxide Fumigation of Table Grapes

Recent studies have shown that dipping table grapes in ethanol solutions at harvest improved storage of the fruit. We report here the first results obtained by treating "Chasselas" table grapes (Vitis vinifera) with ethanol vapours over the storage period. We tested the effect of ethanol at 0, 4 and 8 g/kg fruit during cold storage for 2, 4 and 6 weeks. We measured berry shatter, stem browning, Botrytis rot incidence and sensory appreciation by tasting panels. Ethanol vapours reduced Botrytis rot incidence and berry shatter, but hastened stem browning. Sensory analyses did not detect any differences between treatments

Development of Redglobe table grapes for export

Exports wereonce a major outlet for the Western Australian table grape industry. Over the last 20 years however, exports have fallen from 500 to 00 tonnes per year, despite an increase in the area planted to table grapes and an increase on overseas demand for our produce. By 1993 less than 3 per cent of the table grapes produced in the State were exported. The introduction of Redglobe, a new table grape varietyy from California, is expected to increase the export of table grapes from Western Australia to 1000t by 1997, when the variety will represent 90 per cent of all table grapes exported. (see Figure 1) Redglobe production will be a $5 million industry by 1997 if growth continues at its current rate and the management techniques being developed are fully adopted

Improving traceability and transparency of table grapes cold chain logistics by integrating WSN and correlation analysis

Effective and efficient measurement and determination of critical quality parameter(s) is the key to improve the traceability and transparency of the table grapes quality as well as the sustainability performance of the table grapes cold chain logistics, and ensure the table grapes quality and safety. This paper is to determine the critical quality parameter(s) in the cold chain logistics through the real time monitoring of the temperature fluctuation implemented with the Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), and the correlation analysis among the various quality parameters. The assessment was conducted through three experiments. Experiment I indicated that the temperature have a large fluctuation from 0 °C to 30 °C, and the critical temperatures could be determined as 0 °C, 5 °C, 10 °C, 15 °C, 20 °C, 25 °C and 30 °C. Experiment II described that the firmness and moisture loss rate, whose Pearson correlation coefficient with the sensory evaluation were all greater than 0.9 at the critical temperatures determined in Experiment I, could be the critical quality parameters. Experiment III illustrated that the critical quality parameters, firmness and moisture loss rate, could be reliable indicators of table grapes quality by the Arrhenius kinetic equation, and results showed that the evaluation model based on the firmness is better to predict the shelf life than that based on the moisture loss rate. The best quality table grapes could be provided for the consumers via the easily and directly tracing and controlling the critical quality parameters in real time in actual cold chain logistics.National Natural Science Foundation of Chin

Ethanol vapours limit Botrytis development over the postharvest life of table grapes

The application of ethanol vapours has been optimised over two seasons in order to prevent rot development, caused by Botrytis cinerea, and stem browning in 'Chasselas' table grapes. At a dose rate of 2 ml per kg of grapes, ethanol vapour was as effective as sulphur dioxide pads. Consumer panels detected no significant difference in sensory perception between controls and treated grapes. The ethanol vapour treatment could be easily implemented by the table grape industry since the technology is similar to sulphur dioxide treatment

Effect of Pruning on Morphological and Biochemical Characteristics of Grapes (Vitis vinifera L.)

The objectives of this study were to determine whether bud pruning severity impacts some pomological traits of white and red varieties of table grapes. Vine canes were pruned to 3 or 6 buds in 12-year-old vines in conventional systems. Results revealed that number of bunches, bunch weight, bunch width, number of shot berries, and berries per bunch was significantly (p<0.05) affected by the bud pruning, whereas bud pruning had no significant effect on bunch length. In general, moderate bud pruning can enhance the nutritional quality of table grapes

Potential for Ethanol Vapours to Limit Table Grape Berry Shatter and to Limit Ethylene Evolution from Clusters

We have shown previously that ethanol vapours (given by 2 ml per kg of grapes) can prevent Botrytis development and stem browning, two of the major problems in postharvest quality of table grapes. In the present paper, we will give emphasis to preliminary results about (i) the role of ethanol vapours in the inhibition of berry shatter and (ii) the control of ethylene evolution from grapes bunches by ethanol vapours and the link to the control of Botryti

Patterns of genomic and phenomic diversity in wine and table grapes.

Grapes are one of the most economically and culturally important crops worldwide, and they have been bred for both winemaking and fresh consumption. Here we evaluate patterns of diversity across 33 phenotypes collected over a 17-year period from 580 table and wine grape accessions that belong to one of the world's largest grape gene banks, the grape germplasm collection of the United States Department of Agriculture. We find that phenological events throughout the growing season are correlated, and quantify the marked difference in size between table and wine grapes. By pairing publicly available historical phenotype data with genome-wide polymorphism data, we identify large effect loci controlling traits that have been targeted during domestication and breeding, including hermaphroditism, lighter skin pigmentation and muscat aroma. Breeding for larger berries in table grapes was traditionally concentrated in geographic regions where Islam predominates and alcohol was prohibited, whereas wine grapes retained the ancestral smaller size that is more desirable for winemaking in predominantly Christian regions. We uncover a novel locus with a suggestive association with berry size that harbors a signature of positive selection for larger berries. Our results suggest that religious rules concerning alcohol consumption have had a marked impact on patterns of phenomic and genomic diversity in grapes