June 3, 2022
SIDEBAR: How diseases shaped today’s grapes
By Mary Hightower
U of A System Division of Agriculture
(292 words)
(Newsrooms: With mainbar: 06-03-2022-ar-southern-sensations-grape with photos)
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Two insect-transmitted afflictions, Pierces disease and phylloxera, play different, but significant, roles in the shaping of the Southern Sensations grape.
“Pierces disease is a devastating grape disease,” said John Clark, distinguished professor and fruit breeder for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “It’s a bacterial infection that clogs the conducting vessels in the vines and kills them.
“Pierces disease dictates what bunch grapes you grow in the deep South,” he said.
“The only place in the South that has had much success in breeding grapes that can
survive Pierces is the University of Florida and that program ceased years ago.”
The disease is transmitted by insects in the leafhopper group known as sharpshooters.
These insects feed off the vine’s vessels, spreading xylem-clogging bacteria.
Phylloxera is another bane of grape growers. The culprit is a tiny insect that is also a sap sucker. Its actions can kill vines by damaging roots through their feeding and by introducing secondary fungal infections. While North America species have evolved some ability to fight off the insect, European varieties — especially Vitis vinifera wine grapes — are very susceptible.
Its accidental introduction to Europe in the late 19th century destroyed a majority of French vineyards.
“Back in the 1800s, French breeders took some of the American species and crossed them with Vitis vinifera,” Clark said. However, they were not grown in France, as they were considered to be of lesser quality.
However, some of the hybrids are faring well in the United States and in Arkansas, with their names becoming familiar through local winery labels: Chambourcin, Seyval and Vignoles. “They are all French-American hybrids,” Clark said.
One of the French-American hybrids, Villard Blanc, lives on in the pedigree of the
Southern Sensation grape.
To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices.
Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 25 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs to all eligible persons without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.