CSIRO, winemakers pair to breed mildew, climate resistant grapevines

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Australia’s wine growers are constantly trying to improve their internationally renowned product. Many are exploring a new process aimed are reducing mildew to protect their yield.

Transcript

00:00In the Coonawarra region of South Australia, the grape harvest has started for this year's

00:11vintage.

00:13Windsor State has been producing wine since the 1950s.

00:19And while tradition is important, innovation is critical, which is why they've partnered

00:26with the CSIRO on a research program to help breed mildew-resistant vines.

00:33The reason this is a big deal is because mildew, both powdery and downy, cost the Australian

00:39wine industry just under $170 million a year.

00:44Couple that with the benefit of not using chemicals to combat the fungus or diesel trucks

00:50to spray those chemicals, and it's a win for the environment.

00:56At the CSIRO's offices in Adelaide, Dr. Paul Boss leads a team of scientists working

01:03with Treasury Wine Estates, the owners of brands such as Winds and Penfolds.

01:09Some of their amazing heritage vines from some of these old vineyards that they've had, where

01:14the vine's been growing for a number of years.

01:17And so the germplasm that we're using, the pollen that we're using from those is probably

01:20quite unique.

01:21How do you then use a heritage vine and breed mildew resistance into it?

01:28It's not, in a sense, going into that vine.

01:30It's more we're producing a new variety.

01:33They've been developing breeding lines for the past 15 years, incorporating a mildew-resistant

01:39germplasm, which is the plant's genetic material and DNA sequences, acquired from France in 1997.

01:47But that's not the only thing the scientists have bred into the plants.

01:52They're tiny.

01:53One of the things that we're using to accelerate the breeding process is what we call the microvine.

01:58So this is a plant which is a natural mutation.

02:02It's actually found in Pinot Myrniate, which is one of the three champagne varieties.

02:06And it was found in about 2000 that if you put Pinot Myrniate through tissue culture and

02:13regenerated plants from single cells, those that came from the outer cell layer of the

02:18plant were actually dwarfed, and those from the inner cell layer look like a normal grapevine.

02:24Environmental research scientist Angelique Germico says the size of these dwarf vines isn't

02:30the only benefit.

02:31They take a shorter time to actually get to maturity in terms of flower and fruit development.

02:37So for example, a wild type plant that you find out in your normal vineyard, two to three

02:42years to get it to flower and produce fruit, whereas these, they're ready to go within six

02:46months.

Category

Transcript

Recommended