096 Muscadine Traits Potentially Useful in Breeding

A muscadine vineyard planted at McNeil, Miss., in 1990 included 23 cultivars and a planting in 1992 included nine cultivars. Each entry was evaluated for eight useful traits over 4 years. The regressions of certain traits on others were performed to determine relationships that might be useful in selecting for valuable traits such as phyto-chemicals in seed. Ranges among cultivars for the traits were: harvest date—20 days, yield—33 kg per vine, berry weight—11.2 g, percent dry scar—38, °Brix—5, pH—0.5, seed per berry—1.2 and seed weight—5.5 g. The best relationship was between berry weight and seed weight.