Rootstocks to meet future challenges of the Australian wine industry

Abstract

CSIRO rootstock germplasm resources and grafted, replicated trials developed through co‑investment by CSIRO and Wine Australia in previous projects (CSP 99/02 and CSP 05/03) have been maintained for 2 years to underpin future rootstock research including development of new rootstock genotypes.

Summary

Wine Australia and CSIRO through co‑investment in previous projects have committed to delivering improved rootstocks to secure the development of an economically sustainable, resilient Australian wine grape industry. Anticipated ongoing redevelopment of vineyards previously planted on own roots provides a significant opportunity for adoption. To underpin future rootstock research and development of new rootstock genotypes, this project maintained key rootstock germplasm resources and grafted, replicated trials developed in prior projects (CSP 99/02 and CSP 05/03) for 2 years. The rootstock germplasm material included core rootstock variety and species material; ungrafted seedling populations established in the field; rootstock trials established with promising genotypes, including drought tolerant genotypes in Sunraysia and Padthaway; and, new rootstock genotypes which have been shown to have good nematode and phylloxera resistance, good production and wine quality characteristics, and having potential for wider scale industry evaluation. For the rootstock trials in bearing, yield and yield component and maturity data were collected from the replicated trials to ensure complete data sets are available for analyses in future research. There has been ongoing interaction by project personnel to communicate the results from previous rootstock research to industry and the wider research community, with publication of a number of papers in scientific, conference and industry journals.