Digital seed morphometry for genotype identification — case study of seeds of excavated (15th century Hungary) and current vinegrape (Vitis v. vinifera) varieties

Abstract Digital seed image analysis of seed remains of three ancient vinegrape samples excavated from 15th-century sites of Hungary was conducted and compared to those of ten currently grown old grapevine varieties. Digital seed images were analysed by Fovea Pro 4.0 computer program, with the final aim to identify the ancient grapevine cultivars with a final genotype reconstruction. Discriminant analysis, XY plot and histogram analyses revealed that seeds of two archaeological samples (11–13) show the closest similarity to the currently grown old vinegrape Vitis v. vinifera cv. ‘Mézesfehér’ (sample 6). Histogram analysis of seed parameter Equiv.Diam. (cm) of the archaeological seed sample ‘Budai vár’ (sample 11) showed diverse multimodal distribution compared to the unimodal distribution of cv. ‘Mézesfehér’ (sample 6), which results indicated that cv. ‘Mézesfehér’ went through a selection through the last five centuries, which narrowed the morphological diversity of this seed character