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Grapes
Botanical Name-Vitis vinifera L.
Family -Vitaceae

Importance

• It is very popular crop in the world and commercially grown in most countries.
• It is a perennial and deciduous woody climbing vine.
• It is a good source of vitamin B and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, and iron.
• Grapes are used for raw eating and are used for making various products such as jelly, jam, raisins, vinegar, juice, seed oil and grape seed extracts.
• Grape farming is mainly done in France, USA, Turkey, South Africa, China, Portugal, Argentina, Iran, Italy, and Chile.
• Among these China is the largest country doing grape farming.
• It also has health benefits such as it is used to control diabetes, relieves from asthma, heart issues, constipation, bone health etc.
• It is also useful for skin and hair health related issues.

Area & Production

• India is among the first ten countries in the world in the production of grapes.
• The major producers of grapes are Italy, France, Spain, USA, Turkey, China and Argentina. 
• This crop occupies fifth position amongst fruit crops in India with a production of 1.21 million tonnes (around 2% of world’s production of 57.40 million tonnes) from an area of 0.05 million ha. in 2001-02.
• The area under grapes is 1.2 % of the total area of fruit crops in the country.  Production is 2.8% of total fruits produced in the country.
• About 80% of the production comes from Maharashtra followed by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

State-wise area, production and productivity of grapes are given in Table below..

Varieties

For Dry Area

For making raisins: Thompson Seedless, Black Sahebi

For raw eating: Thompson Seedless, Beauty Seedless, Black Sahebi, Anab-e-Shahi,Thompson Seedless: Bunches are big, equal sized grape, the grape is medium long, green color fruits turn golden at maturity, fruit is seedless, hard and good taste, late maturing variety.

Varieties cultivated in different regions of India.

List of commercial varieties utilized for specific purposes is given in the following:

Commercial varieties can be grouped under four categories based on color and seeds:          

Soil and Climate

Soil- 

• It is grown in a variety of soil but good fertile soil having pH range of 6.5-8.5 having good water holding capacity is suited best for grape farming.
• Well-drained rich loamy soil with a pH of 6.5 – 7.0 with low water table with EC less than 1.0 is congenial for its cultivation.
• The soil depth should be atleast 1 m for proper root development and vine establishment.
• The rootstocks viz., Dogridge and 110 R can be used to overcome the high soil pH, drought and salinity in irrigation water with EC upto 8 m.mhos cm2

Climate –

• Grapes prefer dry humid condition for better growth and yield.
• Areas within the temperature range of 15 to 40oC and rainfall lies between 500 and 900 mm are suitable for this crop.
• Rain should not coincide with vine growth after pruning and bunch ripening phase.
• Cloudy weather with high relative humidity, fog and low temperature are not suitable for flowering and fruit set.
• This results in build up of fungal diseases which ultimately leads to loss in yield..
• The day time temperature ranging from 20oC to 35oC is optimum for proper vine growth and establishment.

Field preparation and planting

• Grape is usually propagated by hardwood cuttings, though propagation by seed, Softwood cuttings, layering, grafting and budding is also used in some cases.
• The grapevines are usually planted in pits. The size of the pit depends upon the spacing of the vines and also on the specific requirements of the variety.
• The depth may vary from 60 to 90 cm. depending upon the soil type.  Wider spacing (1.2 m. X 1.2 m.) is required in case of vigorous varieties like Anab-e-Shahi and Bangalore Blue.
• A little less than that (i.e. 90 X 90 cm.) is required in case of varieties viz. Thompson Seedless, Perlette and Beauty Seedless.
• In central Maharashtra and northern parts of Karnataka the spacing adopted for Thompson seedless and its mutants is 1.8m X 2.4 m.
• The pits need to be opened about a month before planting.
• Planting is usually avoided during the rainy season. The best time for planting is February-March in North India, November-January in peninsular India.
• In Karnataka and Tamil Nadu it is usually planted during December-January, due to the fact that rainy season lasts upto end of November.
• Growth of the plants starts 10-15 days after planting, depending upon the season of planting.
• Growth occurs earlier in the case of those planted during the warm season as compared to those planted in cold season.  After one month of planting, the young plants need staking and training.
• Propagated by hardwood cuttings prepared from matured canes (one year old shoot) of  healthy, moderately vigorous, virus tree vines.
• Cuttings of 25-30 cm length are prepared by  making the lower cut just below a bud and upper cut slightly above the bud. Cuttings should be  tied and stored in moist sand for a month for callusing.
• The callused cuttings start well in the  nursery. While planting only one bud is left above the ground level and the remaining portion  buried in soil.
• At the end of winter the sprouted and rooted cuttings can be lifted and planted in  the main yield.
• Grafting and budding is practiced with a particular root stock for specific  requirements. 

1. Phylloxera resistant rootstock 

          Vitis riparia, V. rupestris

       2.Nematode resistant rootstock 

          Dogridge, Salt creek

       3.Saline tolerant : Solanis, 1616 

Spacing

Time of sowing:
Transplanting of prepared root cutting is done in December to January month.

Spacing:
By Knifing method, use spacing of 3mX3m and by arbour method use spacing of 5m X 3m. For Anab-e-Shahi variety, use a spacing of 6m X 3m.

Sowing depth:
Cuttings are planted at the depth of 1m.

Fertilizer

Nutrition

Recommended doses of nutrients for different varieties under different agro-climatic regions are given in table below: Recommended nutrient doses (kg./ha.) for different varieties of Grape

Fertilizer Requirement (gm/tree)

• In newly planted vines, application of Urea@60gm and MOP@125gm is done in April month and then repeat the same dose in June month.
• For older vines, application of fertilizer is done according to given in the table.
• Full dose of FYM and SSP and half dose of Nitrogen and Potassium are applied after pruning and half dose of Nitrogen and Potassium are applied after fruit set in April.
• Spraying of urea is done two times, first is done at the time of full blooming and second at fruit set.  

Weed Control

Application of Stomp@800ml per acre is done as the pre-emergence in the first fortnight of March after thorough ploughing and then spraying of Gramoxone 24 WCS (paraquat) or Glycel 41 SL (glyphosate)@1.6 ltr/acre in 150 ltr water is done as post emergence when the weeds attain the height of 15-20cm.

Irrigation

• Irrigation practices vary considerably in different regions of India depending upon the rainfall pattern, time of pruning, different growth stages, water-holding capacity of soil, variety grown, training system followed and spacing of vines. 
• Irrigation is provided once in every three days in newly planted vineyards by allowing water into a small circular basin of 50 cm. radius. With the increase in growth rate the size of the basin increases to a radius of 2m. 
• In case of drip irrigation, only one emitter is placed at the base of the vine. The number of emitters gradually increases to two and then four which are shifted about 30 or 40 cm. away from the stem depending upon the variety and spacing of the vines. 
• Heavy irrigation is provided soon after pruning in order to wet the entire root zone thoroughly and induce active growth in the vine. Light irrigation of 50-75mm. (5.0-7.5 L./ha.) is given at an interval of 10-12 days during winter and 5-7 days in summers.
•  In the event of rainfall during that interval, the next irrigation is either omitted or delayed. Irrigation frequency is reduced during anthesis, fruiting stage and also after berry softening to improve fruit quality

Training

• The vines are trained with single stem upto pandal with a stalk on tipping at 2 m height.
• The main arms are developed and trained in opposite directions.
• On further tipping, secondary and tertiary arms are developed for spreading all over the pandal.
• In India systems like bower, kniffin, telephone, head and slanting trellis have been tried in the past, but the bower & telephone system are being followed on a large scale. 
• About 80% of the vineyard area in India is on a bower system. 

The training system and intensity of pruning recommended for different varieties is given below:

1.Bower

• This system is most widely used in commercial cultivation of grapes and particularly for the vigorous varieties with high degree of apical dominance. 
• As the shoots start growing from the newly –planted rooted cuttings in the main field, only the best shoot growing vertically is allowed to grow along the stake provided upto the bower height.

2. Kniffin (also called Espalier System)

• The system is less expensive than Bower, yet it is less commonly followed. 
•  It is suitable for training moderately vigorous varieties having less degree of apical dominance. 
• Close planting of vines within a row at spacing of 1.80 to 2.40 m. depending upon the vigour of the plant is followed keeping the row to row distance at 3 meters. 
• As in the case of Bower, the vigorous and vertically growing shoot is trained along the vertical support.  

Advantages of Kniffin System over Bower System:

• Less expensive
• Disease incidence and spread is less.
• Easy to carry out spraying and other cultural operations.

The main drawback is that yield is about half of what is obtained on a bower system. Though the vine canopy is exposed to light, the lower laterals are less productive due to shading by the foliage on the upper laterals. Damage to the branches is more due to sunburn and birds.

 3.Telephone System

• T-trellis is used in this system of training.
•  It is a mini discontinuous bower with shoots hanging downwards with three topped wires and T-shaped support, the trellis looks like a telephone pole and wires.
•  It is as expensive as a kniffin system and is suitable for moderately vigorous varieties with slightly more apical dominance.

Advantages of Telephone System over Bower System:

• Better ventilation and light interception
• More convenient to carry out cultural operations and spraying
• Less expensive

Disadvantages of Telephone System over Bower System :

• Less yield as there is no provision for developing as many canes per unit area as in Bower.
• During summer months, sunburn of berries is observed in very hot and dry places.

4.Head System

• This is the least expensive of all the training systems. 
• It is suitable for less vigorous varieties with less degree of apical dominance and for those in which the basal buds in a cane are fruitful, such as Beauty Seedless, Delight and Perlette in North India and Gulabi in South India.  
• Plants are spaced very closely to accommodate about 4000 – 4500 plants per ha. with a spacing of 1.80 m. and 1.20 m to 1.50 m between the rows and within a row respectively. 
• The vines are supported to vertical stakes of eucalyptus or bamboo poles of 1.50 m. length. 
• These supports are fixed very close to the vine 30 cm. deep in the soil leaving 1.20 m above the ground.

The return on investment made is less as compared to the Bower system. Size of the berries produced on this system is larger as compared to that of other systems. Incidence of diseases is much less on this system

Pruning

In general four bud levels of pruning for Muscat, Pachi Draksha, Bangalore Blue, Anab-e-Shahi and Arka hybrids and two bud levels for Thompson Seedless may be adopted. It is better to decide the level of pruning as per bud forecasting technique.  Weak and immature canes should be pruned to one or two buds to induce vegetative growth.

The prevailing pruning practices in India can be broadly grouped into the following categories:

1.Single Pruning- Single cropping

• This system is prevalent in North India. Since only one growing season is available, grapevines are pruned with the onset of spring or during late winter (mostly January-February). 
• Floral differentiation on the current shoots and the fruit set take place simultaneously. 
• If all the bearing shoots are retained on the vine and pruned in the next winter for fruiting, the fruiting wood multiplies faster and the vine canopy becomes denser year after year, leading to barrenness within just 3 to 4 years. 
• In order to regulate vine canopy and extend its productive life span, half of the mature shoots are pruned for fruiting and the other half are pruned for renewing the spurs to give rise to shoots that develop into fruiting canes for the next year. 
• Alternatively, the fruiting canes are pruned back to renewal spurs and the mature shoots developed from the previous spurs are pruned to fruiting canes year after year.

2.Double pruning – Single cropping

• This system is predominantly followed in Maharashtra, north interior Karnataka in case of Thompson Seedless, and Andhra Pradesh on Thompson Seedless and Anab-e- Shahi grapes. 
• After harvest in summer, the vines are forced to undergo rest for about a month, during which period water is withheld to help concentrate the reserves in the mature parts of the vine. All the fruiting canes are pruned back to spurs retaining only one basal node. This is called “back pruning “or “foundation pruning” or “summer pruning “.
• Buds on the shoots growing from these spurs differentiate into floral primordial and the shoots mature in about five months. These mature shoots are pruned for fruiting before the onset of winter (September- October). This pruning is called “forward pruning” or “fruit pruning” or winter pruning”.
• All the mature shoots are subjected to fruit pruning. Thus, in this system of pruning, a cycle of two prunings resulting in one crop is practiced.

Pruning Season

Summer crop: Pruning in December – January and harvesting during April – May.
Monsoon crop: Pruning in May-June and harvesting during August – September

Special practices

• Tipping of shoots and tying of clusters in the pandal after the fruit set should be done. 
•  The tendrils have to be removed. Nip the growing shoots of axillary buds and terminal buds at 12 to 15 buds.
•  Fruit thinning is done in compact bunches by removing 20 % of the berries at pea stage.

Dip the clusters in solution containing Brassinosteroid 0.5 ppm and GA3 25 ppm at 10-12 days after fruit set to maintain vigour, yield and quality parameters.

Double pruning for double cropping in Muscat Hamburg (Panneer)

• For getting high yield with quality fruits, adoption of double pruning and double cropping system is the best for Muscat Hamburg (Panneer).
• The first pruning for getting summer crop can be practiced during December – January and harvesting is made during in April – May.
• The second pruning can be practised during May-June and harvesting during August – September.
• The vines are allowed for 2-3 months period of rest after harvesting till December. Apart from Muscat Hamburg, the varieties like Anab-e-Shahi, Clone A-18/3, Manjari Medika and H-516 are also highly suitable for adoption of double pruning for double cropping.
• Double pruning for single cropping in commercial grapes varieties
  For commercial grapes varieties viz., Red Globe, Thompson Seedless and its clones, Crimson Seedless, Flame Seedless, Fantasy Seedless and Sharad Seedless, adoption of double pruning for single cropping is the best practice for harvesting good quality fruits with high yield.
• The first pruning (Back pruning) is done at one to two bud level during August – September and allowed for vegetative growth.
• The second pruning is done on grown up vines (Forward or fruit pruning) during January-March and harvesting is made from May-August depending on the duration of varieties for attaining maturity.
• For example, the grapes variety Sharad Seedless matures in 100 to 110 days, whereas the Crimson Seedless takes 150 days for maturity.

Special Viticultural practices

1.Shoot thinning

• There will be lot of new shoots of more than 100 at faster rate after pruning from the buds of vines.
• More number of shoots will result in overcrowding which compete for nutrients and water and prone for pest and disease incidence with poor productivity.
• For growing the seedless varieties for export, less than 0.75 shoot, domestic market purpose 1 shoot and for Muscat Hamburg (Panneer) 2 shoots per square feet area should be retained.
• Shoot thinning should be practised at 4-5 leaf stage.
• 2.Sub cane development
• Commercial seedless grapes varieties with high vigour require sub cane development to achieve high degree of fruitfulness.
• The vines supplied with high nitrogenous fertilizers and more irrigation also result into vigorous vegetative growth.
• To avoid the faster vegetative growth, the shoots are pinched at particular node position.
• Then the lateral is allowed to take lead with slow growth with short internodes at base. This practice is known as sub cane development.
• 3. Training the shoots
• To ensure proper micro climate inside the canopy the growing shoots are trained at proper distance in the “Y” trellis or pandal.
• Training the shoots will be helpful for light penetration and proper aeration to trigger the uniform cane maturity and also to avoid the pest and disease incidence.
  4.Tipping
• Tipping is practised by the retention of 9-11 leaves above the last cluster and tying of clusters in the pandal after the fruit set for berry development and maturity in the bunches Further tendrils are also removed.

5. Nipping
Nipping is practised by removing the emerged shoots from axillary buds and terminal growth at 12th to 15th bud position from the base.

6.Cluster and berry thinning
Thinning of excess number of clusters prior to anthesis and thinning the compact bunches by removing 20 – 30 per cent of the berries at pea stage (3-4 mm size berries) using hand scissors should be followed.

• Dip the clusters in solution containing Brassinosteroid 0.5 ppm and GA3
  25 ppm at 10-12 days after fruit set to maintain vigour, yield and quality parameters.

Special practices 

• Tipping of shoots and tying of clusters in the pandal after the fruit set. Remove tendrils.
• Nipping the growing shoots of axillary buds and terminal buds at 12 to 15 buds. Thinning the  compact bunches by removing 20% of the berries at pea stage. 
• The clusters are dipped in a solution containing Brassinosteroid 0.5 ppm and GA3 25 ppm at 10-12 days after fruit set to maintain vigor, yield and quality parameters

Nutritional deficiency

8.Zinc

Deficiency Symptoms
Poor fruit set and stunted shots with small, misshapen leaves foliar application of zinc is the most effective method for treating Zn deficiency.

Correction Measure

• Neutral zinc products containing 50-52% Zn, or zinc oxide (75-805 Zn) are both effective as foliar sprays.
• Zinc spray applications are most effective in improving fruit set when applied during the period of two weeks prior to bloom up to full bloom.
• If foliar deficiency symptoms persist or reappear, a second application may be necessary.

Plant Protection

1. Mealy bug : Maconellicoccus hirsutus

Symptoms of damage

• Nymphs and adults suck the sap from leaves, shoots and fruits
• Honey dew – development of sooty mould on leaves, shoots and branches

Management

• Apply quinalphos or Methyl parathion dust in the soil @ 20 kg/ha to kill the Phoretic ants.
• Spray dichlorvos 76 WSC at the rate of 1 ml/lit with fish oil rosin soap at 25 g/lit.
• Release Coccinellid beetle, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri at the rate of 10 per vine.

2. Mealy bug: Ferrisia virgata

Symptoms of damage                                                                    

• Premature dropping of fruit.

Management

• Debark vines and branches and apply methyl parathion paste
• Collect damaged bark, leaves, twigs and stems
• Release exotic predator, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri @ 10 beetles/vine
• Field release of parasitoids – Anagrus dactylopii, Gyanusoidea mirzai

3.Stem girdler-Sthenias grisator

Symptoms of damage

• Wilting of branches and then the entire vine.

Management

• Remove loose bark at the time of pruning to prevent egg laying
• Collect and destroy damaged plant parts
• Swab the trunk with Carbaryl 50 WP @ 2 gm/lit to control the pest

4. Flea beetles Scelodonta strigicollis

Symptoms of damage

• Caused two type of damages
• Larvae and adults feed on the upper and lower leaf surfaces – leaf injury

Management

• Remove the loose bark at the time of pruning  to prevent egg laying
• Shake vines to dislodge adult beetles

5.Thrips –

Symptoms of damage

Presence of silvery white scorchy patches on the leaves

Management

• Collect and destroy damaged leaves, fruits and flowers
• Insecticides: methyl demeton 25 EC  0.05% or dimethoate 30 EC 0.06%@ 2 ml/lit of water to control thrips.

6.Berry plume moth: Oxyptilus regulus

Symptoms of damage-   

• Early instar larvae web the flower buds
• Matured larvae attack bunch of fruit

Management-

• Use pheromone trap to attract male and kill the adult
• Spot application of bubrofezin and acetemprid for effective manage this pest.

7. Nematodes –

Management-

• Drona 1lit /acr drip in 60 days .
• The soil should not be disturbed for at least 15 days. Thereafter normal manuring may be done. 
• Application of neemcake 200 g/vine also controls nematodes.

Diseases

1.Powdery mildew- Uncinula necator

Symptoms 

• Powdery growth mostly on the upper surface of the leaves.
• Malformation and discolouration of affected leaves

Management

• Spray Inorganic sulphur 0.25 % or Chinomethionate 0.1 % or Dinocap 0.05 %.
• Spray 0.3% Wettable sulphur or dust Sulphur @ 6-12 Kg/ha in the morning hours to control the fungus.

2.Anthracnose / Birds Eye Spot –Gloeosporium ampelophagum Elsinoe amphelina

Symptoms

• The disease appears first as dark red spots on the berry. 
• Later, these spots are circular, sunken, ashy-gray and in late stages these spots are surrounded by a dark margin which gives it the “bird’s-eye rot” appearance

Management

• Removal of infected twigs
• Copper oxychloride 0.2% or Mancozeb 0.25%

3.Downy mildew – Plasmopara viticola

• Irregular, yellowish, translucent sports on the upper surface of the leaves.
• Correspondingly on the lower surface, white, powdery growth on leaves

Management

• Spray Bordeaux mixture 1 % or Metalaxyl + Mancozeb 0.4 %

Post Harvest Diseases

1.Anthracnose/ Bird eye spot: Elsinoe ampelina 

Symptoms

• On berries, small, reddish circular spots initially develop.
• The centers of the spots turn whitish gray and are surrounded by narrow reddish-brown to black margins.

Management:

• The diseased leaves and twigs should be pruned and burnt.
• Spraying -Ferrous sulfate 2.5 kg + 0.5 pint sulphuric acid in 4.5 l of water

2.Botrytis Bunch Rot or Gray Mold of Grape: Botrytis cinerea

Symptoms                                                            

• Infected berries first appear soft and watery.Infected berries of white cultivars become brown and shriveled

Management:

• Preharvest infection can be controlled by three applications of captan 0.2 % at monthly intervals before rainfall.

3.Blue mould rot: Penicillium digitatum

Symptoms

• Scanty growth – white  and turn bluish green are seen.
• Decay the berries

Management:

• Avoiding injuries to the ripe berries helps to reduce soft rot.
• Clean planting stock

4.Rhizopus rot: Rhizopus nigricans

Symptoms

• Round irregular, light brown and water soaked lesion appear on fruits.
• Decaying fruits emits a fermented, moudly smell

Management:

• Diphenyl sprayed on cushions is effective at 1 g and 2 g per pack in protecting the fruits upto 15 days in storage as protectant and eradicant.

Quality improvement in Muscat Hamburger

• To get uniform ripening in Muscat, spray the bunches with 0.2% Potassium chloride (2 g /l) at 20th day after berry set, followed by another spray on 40th day.
• Dip the clusters of Thompson seedless and other seedless varieties at calyptra fall stage with 25 ppm GA (25 mg / l) and repeat again at pepper stage to increase the size of berries.
• Retention of 9 leaves above the last cluster with the foliar application of 10 ppm GA3 when the berries at parrot green stage and 0.5 ppm of homobrassinolide was found to be the best for high yield and quality.
• Quality improvement in seedless grapes varieties

1. Foliar application of chelated EDTA calcium @ 0.2 % combined with boric acid @ 0.1 % during early berry development was highly effective for getting high yield and for reducing berry cracking.
2. Extensive use of various plant growth hormones in seedless commercial grapes varieties is very common for enhancing the yield land quality.
3. But one should be very careful about the stage of use and the concentration of these hormones.
4. Gibberellic acid (GA3) application reduces number of flowers and also results in elongation of berries and bunches.
5. Plant growth regulators like Brassinolide, Benzyl Amino Purine (6-BAP) and CPPU increase the size of berries.
6. The schedule and the concentration of different hormones for balanced crop, quality bunches and berries in seedless grape varieties
   Days after pruning                                           Stage of bunch                                           Hormone                             Concentration(ppm)
   28 – 30                                                                       Pre-bloom                                                        GA3                                                      10
   32 – 35                                                                       Full bloom                                                        GA3                                                  20 – 25
   40 – 42                                                                        Post set                                                           GA3                                                  30 – 40
   45 – 50                                                  1 week later(Berry size of 3-4mm)                          GA3 + Brassinolide                                   25 + 1
   50 – 55                                                  1 week later(Berry size of 6-8 mm)                         GA3 + Brassinolide or Benzyl Amino
                                                                                                                                                        Purine                                                         25 + 1                                                                                                                                                                                                                      5 – 10
7. Use of GA3 during cloudy weather should be avoided.

• This results in excess flower dropping and reduces the fruit set.
• Likewise GA3 should not be used during full bloom stage to fruit set period.
• To ensure better results for GA3 on berry size and elongation, may be applied by spraying or dipping bunches

Harvesting

Harvesting is done when fruits are fully matured.  

Post Harvesting

• After harvesting, grading is done. After grading, fruits are pre cooled at 4.4^oC temperature within six hours.
• Packing of grapes is done in containers for long distance markets. 

Yield

Thompson Seedless and its clones : 25 t / ha/ year
Muscat Hamburg (Panneer) : 30 t / ha / year
Red Globe : 20 t / ha / year
Crimson Seedless : 15 t / ha / year
Anab-e-Shahi and Arka hybrids : 20 t / ha / year

Cost & Returns

The cost components of such a model along with the basis for costing are exhibited in 

Annexure 

A summary is given in the figure below.  The project cost works out to Rs. 3.20 lakhs.

Figure-I : COST OF PROJECT

Project Cost:

                                                                                                    (Amount in Rs.)

            @Cost of newly purchased land will be limited to 10% of the total project cost.