Investigating the combined effect of Hydrogen Cyanamide and Abscisic Acid on Improving Berry Color in 'Flame Seedless' Grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.)

Author: Ashok Kumar Mahawer, Lokesh Kumar, Deva Shri Maan, Jitendra Chandra Chandola, Prashant Kalal, Balkesh Kumari, Deepak Rao, Tejraj Singh Hada and Naresh Kumar Arora

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Abstract

The grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) holds significant importance as a horticultural crop in tropical and subtropical regions. In terms of seedless cultivars, the grape variety "Flame Seedless" is considered to be the most widely grown table grape in the world. Flame Seedless vines exhibit vigorous growth and bright red fruit clusters having medium to large-sized seedless berries. These berries possess a crisp skin, juicy pulp, and a noticeably muscat-like flavor. The current investigation helps to understand the role of the combined impact of abscisic acid (ABA) and hydrogen cyanamide (HCN) in the improvement of the berry color of the “Flame Seedless” grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.). Immediately after pruning, the canes of the 14-year-old vines were subjected to a spray of 2% HCN. At the time of bunch emergence, 75–80 bunches per vine were retained in all the treatments except control, where 110–120 bunches per vine were retained. The treatment T6 (2% HCN + 100 ppm ABA + 400 ppm ethephon) had the lower lightness of berry peel color (l = 15.83), which was statistically similar with treatments T3, T4 and T5. Whereas, the highest value of a* (from green to red) was also obtained from treatment T6 (5.80), which was statistically at par with treatment T5. The treatment T2 (HCN 2% + 75 ppm of ABA) had the highest blueness of peel color b* value (4.91), which was statistically similar to T3 and T8. However, T6 (5.8) and T3 (5.5) had the highest values of the color index of red grapes (CIRG) in comparison to control (4.34). The lowest percentage of uneven color of berries/bunch was observed with the application of 2% HCN + 100 ppm ABA + 400 ppm ethephon (16.78%). The current study will help mitigate the challenge of climate change effects due to elevated temperatures, which cause poor anthocyanin accumulation in berries. The findings of the current study revealed that application of 2% HCN (applied at the end of December) and 100 ppm ABA (applied at veraison stage) was effective in advancing berry ripening and improving berry peel color with minimal postharvest loss in fruit quality during marketing.

Keywords

Abscisic acid, Berry colour, Ethephon, Flame Seedless, Hydrogen cyanamide

Conclusion

Conclusively, the current study demonstrated that application of HCN at 2%, applied at the end of December in combination with ABA (at the varaison stage), could significantly improve the color and quality of Flame Seedless grapevines while causing minimal deterioration in fruit quality during marketing.

References

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How to cite this article

Ashok Kumar Mahawer, Lokesh Kumar, Deva Shri Maan, Jitendra Chandra Chandola, Prashant Kalal, Balkesh Kumari, Deepak Rao, Tejraj Singh Hada and Naresh Kumar Arora (2023). Investigating the combined effect of Hydrogen Cyanamide and Abscisic Acid on Improving Berry Color in 'Flame Seedless' Grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.). Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(2): 1289-1295.