The super-grape arrives from the USA

Combining Muscats and Vitis vinifera (table grapes) to obtain a “super” grapes with superior qualities. This is the goal of a project launched in the USA, led by the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and funded with 7 million dollars by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture. Muscats may be considered the most popular American grape variety in the grape world, but they have many qualities, such as disease resistance and unique flavors, that are desired in the most popular species of Vitis vinifera (bunch grapes).

Similarly, Vitis vinifera, the species that most people eat as table grapes and drink in wine, has many desirable characteristics for Muscats, such as thinner skin, a crispier texture and the absence of seeds. Successfully combining traits from these two grape species is challenging because of their different basic chromosome numbers. The project is co-led by Renee Threlfall and Margaret Worthington with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.

“This project has been in the works for a decade, waiting for the right project partners to form this team,” said Threlfall, associate professor of enology and viticulture in the Department of Food Sciences. “A lot of planning and collaboration has made this a success. Our goal is to introduce disease-resistant crops with improved fruit quality that will lead to a more resilient U.S. grape industry.”

The project has six goal-based teams focused on genetics, breeding, pathology, quality, marketing and production. Threlfall leads the quality-focused team, and Worthington leads the breeding team. The goal is to develop new grape hybrids that combine the best attributes of muscadines and vine grapes, Worthington said. Marker-assisted breeding will be used as part of the project and helps speed up the traditional grape breeding and plant selection process. Scientists can examine a plant’s genetic markers to identify favorable traits in plants before time-consuming field-testing efforts.