Classical Breeding Leading To Grapevines Resistant To Pierce's Disease

Feb 05, 2016

By Jeannette E. Warnert

Pierce's disease of grapes has been a persistent problem in some areas of California and, right now, it's on the upswing, reported Ester Mobley in the San Francisco Chronicle.

A UC Agriculture and Natural Resources researcher has been working for 15 years to develop Pierce's disease-resistant grapevines and he's read to unleash them into the world.

"Spraying to control for PD won't pass environmental muster," said Andy Walker, UC ANR viticulture geneticist and professor in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis. "And GMOs are problematic. For us, the best way forward is through classical breeding."

The project is based on the identification several years ago of a single dominant gene in a Mexican grape species - Vitis arizonica - that promises to confer resistance to Pierce's disease. After making a series of cross breeds resulting in a vines that are 94 percent Vitis vinifera, Walker has developed vines that are similar to any Zinfandel or Sauvignon Blanc grapes, but will never get PD.

Source: ucanr.edu

Video: EP 65 Grazing Through Drought

Welcome to the conclusion of the Getting Through Drought series, where we look at the best management practices cow-calf producers in Alberta can use to build up their resiliency against drought.

Our hope is that the series can help with the mental health issues the agriculture sector is grappling with right now. Farming and ranching are stressful businesses, but that’s brought to a whole new level when drought hits. By equipping cow-calf producers with information and words of advice from colleagues and peers in the sector on the best ways to get through a drought, things might not be as stressful in the next drought. Things might not look so bleak either.

In this final episode of the series, we are talking to Ralph Thrall of McIntyre Ranch who shares with us his experience managing grass and cows in a pretty dry part of the province.