4.

GRAPES (Vitis spp)

Origin distribution propagation postharvest handling

Production and consumption uses and composition storage
Taxonomy and morphology cultivars transport
Ecology and physiology harvesting marketing
Disease and pest

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4.1. Origin, distribution, production and consumption
Grape culture began in Asia Minor, between and to the south of the black and Caspian seas. It
spread both to west and east viticulture and wine making in Egypt dates back to 5000-6000
years. Grapes believed to reach Ethiopia with Christianity in 4 th A.D. but production is started
very recently. Vines were maintained in some monasteries for raisin production, which has
religious significances. Grapes are a deciduous crop of warm temperate regions and of the
subtropics with winter rains. A cool but not very cold winter and dry hot summer are required for
the best results. It is predominantly grown from 200 to 500 N and from 200 to 400 S. its culture is
possible in the tropics under certain conditions. Suitable cultivar and cultural practices must be
adapted.
In Ethiopia modern vineyards were established by foreigners not more than 50 years ago.
Leading grape producing countries currently are: Italy, Switzerland, Spain, France, turkey,
Portugal, USSR, and Argentina.

4.2. Taxonomy and morphology

Like other higher plants the vine has different parts
1. The root system. About 1/3 of the dry weight of a grape tree comprises of the root
system. Under conditions that favor growth, the roots spread over a wide area,
penetrating the soil up to a depth of 6 – 12 feet in soils of favorable texture. The bulk of
the root are usually confound to the upper 60 – 150 cm surface soil.
2. The shoot system. Comprises the above ground parts of the vine and these are: trunk,
arms, shoots (cane when mature), the leaves, tendrils and fruits.

Trunk: the main un-branched body (stem) of the vine. It grows only in diameter.
Arm: permanent division of the vine arising from or along the top of the trunk. The arms bear
the spur and canes.
Head: the region of the trunk from which arms or canes arise.
Shoot: succulent growth arising from a bud. It has the growing tip, nodes, internodes buds,
tendrils and laterals. Once a shoot has made its annual growth, it doesn’t increase in length (tip
or internodes).
Cane: dormant shoot that has become woody, mature and dropped its leaves.
Spur: the basal portions of a cane cut back to 1-4 nodes in length.

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The buds: normally developed at each node just above the leaf (in the leaf axil).
Leaf buds: it is a rudimentary sterile shoots i.e. it elongates into a shoot that bears only leaves
and tendrils.
Fruit bud: contains a shoot having both rudimentary leaves and flower clusters. When such bud
unfolds it produce a leaf shoot that bears 1-4 flower clusters opposite the leaves at the 3 rd & 4th,
4th and 5th & 6th nodes from the base depending on the variety.
Classification of grapes
There are about 60 species of vitis whose origin is chiefly in the northern hemisphere.
1. Vitis vinifera (French grape): more than 90% of the world grapes belong to this group. Is
grown for wine making and as a table grape.
2. Vitis labrusca (American grape): it is primarily grown for juice, preserves and eating
fresh and to some extent for wine. However, the wine made from it is inferior to that of
vitis vinifera.
3. Vitis rotundifolia: is used for eating fresh and for preserves.
There are several other American species which have regional importance or used in breeding
purpose for disease and frost resistance. The grapes grown extensively in many important grape
growing regions of the world are either pure vinifers or vinifera hybrids with one or more
American grapes.
Commercial classes of grapes
The grapes of commerce are divided by use into:
1. Table grapes (dessert grapes): intended for use as fresh fruit either for food or
decorative purpose. They must be: Attractive in appearance, good eating quality, good
shipping quality, none or few seeds in berries, and produced and sold at reasonable cost.
Example: Flame Tokay, Emperor, Almeria, Cardinal, italia, Muscant of alexanderia,
perlete, Malaga, ribier, Thompson seedless
2. Raisin grapes: grapes that produce an acceptable dried product and must possess the
following qualities; soft texture, pleasing flavor, seedlessness, little tendency to become
sticky in storage.
Example: Thompson seedless, black Corinth, Muscant of Alexanderia
3. Wine grapes: by far the most expensive use of grape is in producing wine.
There are two types of wines:

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 Table wine (dry or dinner wines): contain 14% alcohol, little or no unfermented sugar.
Produced from grapes of only moderately high sugar content and of relatively high
acidity.
Dessert wine (appetizer or dessert wine): contain >14% alcohol, usually 17-20%, contain
moderate to considerable amounts of unfermented grape sugar. Produced from grapes
that are high in sugar content and low in acidity.
There are numerous varieties of wine grapes like Netch shul, Netch debulbul, Tikur, Kai
Dube, Atere, etc. Ethiopian wineries import about 300 tones yearly of dried raisins grape
juice concentrate, natural wine extract, citric acid, tartaric acid, tannins, etc.
Awash winery (Mekanisa and old air port) produces about 15 brands of wines.
Red wines white wine
Gudar Kamela
Aksumite Cristal
Dukum Zwave
4. Sweet juice grapes: those juice grapes produce an acceptable beverage when it is
preserved by pasteurization or other processes. For making sweet juice, it necessary to
maintain the natural fresh grape flavor through preservation. Varieties Concord (USA),
Carignone (Europe)
5. Canning grapes (as group as compared to others): grapes canned in combination with
other fruit in fruit salad and fruit cocktail. Only seedless varieties such as Thompson
seedless and canner are used.
Growth and development
Dormant period: most grape varieties do not grow until temperature reaches about 10 0C. This
feature is a characteristic of grapes grown in temperate regions where vines remain dormant
during and early spring (low temperature period). However, in the tropical areas grape vines
remain ‘evergreen’ and there is no a pronounced dormancy period.
Bud break to bloom: when temperature starts to rise (or after pruning), cells of buds start to
actively divide – growth and differentiation accelerates from day to day.
N.B. in general, growth of vines do not cease if there is abundant moisture in the soil, sufficient
heat and if there is ample available nitrogen.

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Blooming: after about 8 weeks after bud break flowers which develop simultaneously with the
shoots are ready to bloom. Blooming ordinarily occurs when the mean daily temperature reaches
about 200C. In areas where mean daily temperature does not reach 20 0C, blooming is governed
by some other factors like hormone activated by increased hours of day light.
Fruit set: the stage of cluster development following the drop of impotent (weak) flowers
following bloom, and berries start to grow.
Berry growth: once they set, the berries of grapes enlarge very rapidly. In all grapes, berry
enlargement process proceeds through three distinct periods and follows a double sigmoid
growth curve. This is described as:
Period I: very rapid growth pericarp and seed increases weight and size while embryo remains
small. The berries remain green and firm and are characterized by rapid acid accumulations and a
high rate of respiration. The period lasts 5-7 weeks in most grape varieties.
Period II: overall growth rates slows down markedly, hardening of the endocarp, embryo
develops rapidly and reaches maximum size. The berries reached their highest level of acidity
and begin to accumulate sugar. This lasts 2-4 weeks.
Period III: period of final swell growth in size and weight increases, the berry acquires soft
texture, accumulate sugar, decreases in acidity, the skin becomes colored and characteristics
aroma develops. This lasts 5-8 weeks.
4.3. Ecology and physiology
Temperature: determines the yield and quality of grape grown in a given. Optimum temperature
for most grape species ranges from 25-30 0C. The minimum, maximum as well as the daily
variation of temperature affect the time required to reach maturity and quality of the produce. In
very high temperature the berry skin becomes thicker. Besides, the total amount heat received
determines the ripening time. Heat summation is an important factor that determines quality of
wine, table or raisin grapes.
Moisture: 400-500 mm/year rain fall can be supplemented with irrigation in areas with less
moisture content provided that the site is suitable in other factors.
Wind: strong winds are particularly damaging to table grapes since their appearance is important.
Frost: very important particularly during maturity period may reduce or destroy yield. During the
growth period rain fall, fog and humidity may favor disease development at maturity may affect
harvesting and drying of raisins.

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Soil condition: avoid alkali soils; the grape vine is only moderately tolerant of salt. The upper
salt tolerance limit of grapes has been found to be 0.3%. in general select soils which have
uniform depth (moderately deep to deep), well drained, free from toxic salts, soil born disease or
nematodes.
Distribution of commercial vineyards in Ethiopia
Grapes are grown at an altitude between 900-2400 m asl. Annual rain fall ranges from about 320
mm to 1200 mm. depending on the altitude and the possibility of irrigation, one or two crops per
year can be harvested. In general altitude 2000 m are not advised for grape growing due to
permanent risk of ground frost.
Vineyard location in the country
No. Place Altitude (m) Rain (mm)
1 Abider 900 326
2 Dukem 2000 785
3 Guder 1800-2000 750-800
4 Ziway 1640 680-970
5 Nura era 950-1000 540
6 Merti 950-1000 540

4.4. Propagation
Seeds: only used for breeding purpose
Grafts: used in regions where there are nematodes
Cuttings: common and can be accomplished by rooted or un-rooted
Un-rooted cuttings planted directly in to the field are very sensitive and need close follow-up,
therefore rooted cuttings are recommended.
Dormant cutting should always be taken from healthy, vigorous and fertile mother plants. These
mother plants have to be selected and marked before harvest so that they can be recognized
during pruning time.
Good cuttings are of moderate diameter and with 20 cm long. Except the top bud all other buds
have to be removed. Cutting should be prepared on the same day when they are pruned from
mother plant. The following day, they are supposed to be planted without delay into the nursery.

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If cuttings are not immediately needed for propagation, they can be stored in a cold room at
temperature of 0-20C for more than one year without any risk of damage. They should be
protected from drying out by packing in bags. For short term storage, cutting could be safely
stored (buried) in moist sand if there is no termite problem in the soil.
Training
The training of vine starts from the very day of planting and needs close follow-up by trained
staff. During this time all laterals have to be removed, leaving one leading shoot trained straight
upward the stake. There are different systems.
1. Head system: the vine trained up to a height of 1 – 1.3m where a head is formed by
pinching the shoot, least expensive and best suited for less vigorous variety. Close
spacing is common.
Steps
 One shoot is trained straight upward supported by the planting hole.
 The shoot is topped at 1m above the ground level.
 Two lateral shoots are encouraged to grow from the head region
 These laterals are topped between second and third node.
 On each of the three laterals, two new laterals are allowed to grow
 On each arm 2 – 3 canes are developed to give rise to spurs that bear fruits.
 When these new laterals reach approximately 50 cm irrigation is stopped
 After about 6 weeks of water stress, all canes will be fully matured and first pruning can
be carried out. The trunk should be strong enough to support the canes. The shoots should
not be too long and it works in temperate region.
2. Trellis system (cordon):
In tropic, it is only suitable for varieties which require spur or short cane pruning and which are
of moderate vigor. Long cane pruned variety will be under cropped-tend to be in an uncontrolled
shape using this system.
Clip the trunk below the first wire
Unilateral- if development of the arm is in one direction
Bilateral- if its growth is on both directions.
3. Telephone trellis system

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This rather expensive system is recommended for vigorous varieties which require a long cane
pruning. High yield can be obtained by this method with successful crop protection. Shoots
should be trained on the middle wire and are cut to develop arms. Then the shoots are oriented to
develop arms.
4. Arbor system
Training many or single vines on a continuous bed
Supporting systems
The different training systems should have and fit with support.
1. Head system – requires one pole (stake) per plant 1.5 m long and 5 cm in diameter.
Spacing
 1.5*2m manual cultivation
 1.5*3m mechanical cultivation
2. Trellis system – requires poles of 2.4 m long and 15 cm in diameter, placed 6m apart
 Wire 3-5 inch number,
 Spacing
o 1.5*1.5 m – manual cultivation
o 1.5*2 m small vine yards cultivator
o 1.5*3 m normal cultivator
3. Telephone trellis system – requires poles of 2.4 m long and 15 cm diameter placed 7m
apart
 Cross bars of 1.3 m length. 3 wires, nails
 Spacing
o 2.5*3 m manual cultivation
o 3*3.5 m tractor cultivation
Pruning
It is conducted during the end of the dormant period. In temperate regions it is conducted during
the end of winter and starting of summer when the temperature rises above 100C.
The number of buds to be pruned depends on the vegetative growth of the plant and the
sprouting rate. The number of buds shoots and clusters per vine are
Types of pruning
1. Spur pruning
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  Successful for tropical viticulture combined with head or cordon trained vines
 Doesn’t fit for varieties that are unfertile on the basal buds of a cane
 They will only produce vegetative shoots if spur pruned
 Fully matured canes are pruned to 2 buds spur which should be distributed
regularly all over the vine.
2. Cane pruning
It is required for varieties with unfertile basal buds. Different varieties have specific
requirement for pruning. Most fertile buds are located somewhere between the 4th and
12th bud of a cane. Cane pruning, therefore can be carried out on various number of buds.
Example:
 Short cane 5 – 6 buds
 Long cane 9 – 10 buds
 Medium cane 7 – 8 buds
 Extra cane 11 – 12 buds
Generally only fully matured canes are pruned. Due to apical dominance only one or two buds at
the very end of the cane will sprout, consequently the vines lose their shape within a few seasons
and need severe back pruning.
3. Back pruning:
Back pruning is done by cutting back all canes to one bud spurs as close as to the trunk.
In the following season only vegetative shoots may develop and used for cane pruning
after maturation. Only found in areas of tropical viticulture due to apical dominance. It is
carried out every 2nd – 4th vegetation season. The longer the canes, the more often a back
pruning is required.
4. Rejuvenation pruning:
Old vines with huge amount of unproductive wood and poor shape should be pruned back
to the arm leaving any spur. This can be carried out every 5 – 9 years depending on the
vigor of the vine.

Fertilization

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Presently in the country, there is no such consideration of soil analysis due to lack of skilled
personnel in the field and the practical application is 100 gm DAP /vine + 50 gm urea/vine
usually after pruning.
Organic matter – farm yard manure or compost incorporated with the top soil is a general
viticultural practice to improve soil structure, aeration and water holding capacity of the soil.
During rainy season leguminous plants can be grown as green manure.
Mulching if materials are available, are recommended at the beginning of the dry season.
Harrowing the top soil serve as a mulch and avoids competition by weeds
Irrigation
By irrigation one can manipulate the growth and bearing of grapes in warmer regions of the
tropics. The most common methods are furrow and surface irrigation
Timing is of paramount importance and depends on and depends on the vegetative stage i.e. after
pruning heavy irrigation and heavy fertilization should be given.
4.5. Disease and pest
Downy mildew
The fungus attacks leaves beginning with the older ones and spread apically on the shoot. It is
most severe in cool moist weather. The symptom includes light yellow spots on the leaves that
cause to dry and crumple. It can also affect the development of shoots, florets and berries
Control – a number of fungicides, with various spray frequency and duration
Fungicides such as Zineb, Maneb, Captan, redomil, champion etc…
Powdery mildew
The fungus causes curling and weathering of young leaves and dark staining of mature leaves
(surface). Berry dropping, discoloration and splitting and browning are further symptoms of the
disease.
Control: fungicide spray – Topsin (0.7 kg/ha); Karalin (1 kg/ha); Baylaton (0.2 kg/ha) etc..
Botrytis rot (gray mold)
The fungus is common at harvest time and is associated with rainfall or heavy dew. It can attack
during early fruit set following rains at harvest or in storage.
Field spray with chemicals that control powdery mildew

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Pests
Except stem borer (beetles), there is no other insect serious to pest in the country
Control treatment of stems with dieldrin 2 – 3 times per year or Thiodan 2 lit/200 lit water/ha or
Cyonbush 0.33lit/200lit water/ha
Birds: bird’s cause great loss if they are not controlled. They start attacking berries when the fruit
start to change color. During the ripening of berries up to 4 people/ha are required at a time.
4.6. Harvesting and transport
Harvesting time depends on the altitude of the location, the micro-climate and variety
The period between pruning and harvesting ranges between 120 days in Abidar to 182 days in
Guder area.
The required qualities of grapes depend on their later use. Normally the following sugar contents
(%Brix) are looked
 Table grape – 16% Brix
 Raisin grape – 18 – 20% Brix
 Light white wine – 17 – 18% Brix
 Heavy red wine – 22 – 23% Brix
N.B. the figure shows that qualities of the berries at harvest varies according to the need for their
later use. The sugar content of the fruit should be determined continuously during the ripening
period, in order to arrange harvesting at the right stage of maturity for the different purposes.
The transport of grapes from the field to the processing line depends on their intended use. Table
grapes should be packed in fruit boxes kept in cold storage until they reach consumers.
Wine or juice grape should be packed in moisture proved containers. They should be harvested
in the morning hour transported immediately to the processing center and processed when they
are cool because warm affects quality.

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