Evaluation of agronomic traits in Chinese wild grapes and screening superior accessions for use in a breeding program

This study was conducted to evaluate 15 agronomic traits in 67 accessions of 13 Chinese wild Vitis species. The results have been used to screen superior accessions for grape breeding in the future. Chinese wild Vitis had high diversity in economic traits among the species, such as bud-burst date, blooming date, berry ripening date, bunch weights, berry weights, berry soluble solid contents, berry acid contents, and vine production. Bunch weights of 56 Chinese wild accessions and berry weights of 12 Chinese species (except V davidii) were much smaller than those of the two European cultivars. In our 25-year of evaluation on disease resistance and economic qualities in this Chinese germplasm, we suggest that V quinquangularis, V amurensis, V yeshanensis, V romanetii, and certain accessions in V liubanensis be the first potential materials chosen for breeding.