PUNE: National Research Centre for Grapes, Pune (NRCG), under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare, said on Monday that it had brought several changes in the arena of viticulture, which has led to increased grape acreage in Maharashtra, to 139 thousand hectares in 2018-19 from 32.4 thousand hectares in 1991-92.
Officials here said that stringent trials with nine rootstocks in this institute brought to the fore the benefit of grape rootstock i.e. Dogridge, which elevated the production of grapes.
Weather based advisory system depicting need-based application of fungicides to manage diseases (powdery mildew, downy mildew and anthracnose) was accepted by growers, which was evident from the number of hits on the institute’s website. The institute continues to give weather based advisory in canopy management, irrigation, nutrient schedule, diseases, insect and pest management on its website.
A breeding program was also commenced with the objective to develop grape varieties for different purposes. Several varieties viz. table purpose white variety Manjari Naveen and black seedless variety Manjari Shyama, Manjari Medika and raisin variety Manjari Kishmish have been developed, said sources here. A breeding program for resistance to diseases is in progress and the centre will soon come out with such varieties for the benefit of the growers.
A K Singh, Deputy Director General (Horticulture Science), NRCG said that the centre is trying to improve grape research to enhance the quality of grapes for export and domestic consumption.
R G Somkuwar, director, NRCG, said that production technologies led to standardization of agro techniques, which increased the use of grape rootstock Dogridge. This increased the acreage under grapes. “Other practices like canopy management practices including training and pruning practices, bunch load management, plant growth regulator management, etc helped in improving the grape quality,” he added.
