An Interspecific Hybrid Grape Cultivar: Black Sun

Abstract

Although many efforts have been made to breed new grape cultivars in Korea (Heo and Park 2016; Kim et al. 2020; Park et al. 2022), they are mainly bred by crossing European and American grape cultivars and have relatively low resistance to cold and diseases. Because Korea experiences high precipitation in the summer and cold weather in the winter, the occurrence of damage due to diseases and cold can increase when grapes are grown in unfavorable environments, such as cold regions and open fields. Korea mostly comprises forested areas, which account for 63% of the land area, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to secure agricultural land for grape cultivation due to industrialization. To introduce a sustainable growth system for the grape industry from a long-term perspective, it is important to breed and introduce grape cultivars that can be cultivated in fallow areas where grapes are not currently grown. Vitis amurensis grows naturally in the mountains of Korea and is known to have excellent cold and disease resistance (Wang et al. 2021), which makes it ideal for cultivation in harsher environments. In addition, it contains high levels of resveratrol and polyphenolic compounds, which are well-known health-promoting substances. It has been identified as a valuable genetic source. Despite its advantages, fruit set is affected by the flowering time of male and female individuals because pollinators are required for fruit production of V. amurensis, often resulting in unstable fruit production and limited utilization (Park et al. 2005). Recently, V. amurensis cultivars have been developed to use its beneficial characteristics (Park et al. 2017), and technologies to use them efficiently have been established (Kwon et al. 2019). However, it is expected that superior horticultural advantages can be obtained by hybridizing commercial grape cultivars with V. amurensis genotypes, rather than using V. amurensis directly. Therefore, we aimed to breed new interspecific hybrid grape cultivars that have good fruit characteristics and can be cultivated in an unfavorable environment. The result was a cultivar called Black Sun, and we report its major characteristics.

Keywords

• abiotic stress
• fruit quality
• vitis amurensis
• wine