Viticultural and chemical characteristics of Muscat Hamburg preselected clones grown for table grapes.

BACKGROUND: Clonal selection is one of the tools used for grapevine improvement and therefore is very important for obtaining clones with better characteristics than the variety population. The aim of this study was to select superior grapevines of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Muscat Hamburg grown for fresh consumption. RESULTS: The viticultural parameters and fruit composition of 35 selected vines were determined during a 5-year period. The evaluated parameters showed high variability among selected vines. The significant effect of vintage was observed for all descriptors with the exception of the number of seeds per berry and sugar concentration. Additionally, all vines were examined for their tolerance to low temperatures and the results showed 73% and 90% of primary bud injury at -20 and -25 °C, respectively. In relation to berry classification, the percentage of first-class grapes ranged from 60% to 69% for all selected grapevines. Multivariate statistical analysis was performed to classify grapevines based on their performance. CONCLUSION: Fourteen grapevines were identified as the most promising among the 35 vines initially planted, based on high yield, bunch and berry weight, sugar content and percentage of first-grade grapes. Those grapevines were selected for the next phase of the clonal selection. This study highlighted the importance of clonal selection for improvement of the variety population. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.