LE3 .A278 2011

2011

Kristie, David

Acadia University

Bachelor of Science

Honours

Biology

Biology

In recent years the evaluation of suitable grape (Vitis spp.) cultivars for the Nova Scotia grape growing and wine industries has become increasingly important. Despite this, little material exists documenting the morphological characteristics of grape cultivars grown in Nova Scotia. This lack of material could make identifying unknown cultivars in a vineyard problematic. The objectives of this study were to describe grape cultivars based on several ampelographic characteristics proposed by Pierre Galet (1979), and to evaluate these characteristics to determine their usefulness in identification. Twenty-nine cultivars that are currently grown in Nova Scotia were described based on morphological characteristics such as leaf colour, hair type, tendril placement and tooth size and shape. Leaf measurements, such as vein length ratios, leaf size and sinus depth, were also used to describe cultivars. Results demonstrated which characteristics were useful in identification and which were not. For instance, indument, or hairiness, was useful as it allowed all cultivars to be divided into numerous small groups, and in some cases narrowed down the identities of single cultivars, such as Einset and KW96-1. Other characteristics, such as tendril placement, were less useful as all sampled cultivars showed an identical pattern. In many cases vein length ratio measurements were also of little use, as these measurements tended to differ little between cultivars. The results of this study provided a preliminary means of cultivar identification and an approach to identification that did not previously exist for Nova Scotian viticulture. However, future work is required to test this proposed method of identification. Additional cultivars and characteristics should also be included in future work.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:843