Abstract

Radhouane Benmehaia, Mohamed El Mouncif Bentchikou

This study was carried out at the ITAF Station at Medjez Eddchiche Region (Skikda, Algeria) in order to examine the inter-varietal differences in grapevine bud fertility and grape fruit quality, between local and introduced grapevine cultivars grown under sub-humid environment in Algeria. Eighteen grapevine cultivars were studied through the principal component analysis and the analysis of variance using the least significant difference test to achieve rankings of grapevine varieties based on their fertility and fruit quality measures. Data analysis indicate that the three introduced varieties (Cardinal, Muscat de Hambourg and Alphonse Lavallée) had significantly higher bud fertility with good fruit shape characteristics. Most studied local varieties have high sugar content. Two local varieties (Lakhdari and Bouabar Aurès) had a strong component in size and weight. We distinguish three local varieties (Muscat El Adda, Ain El Bouma and Sbaa El Tolba) significantly higher bud fertility than all other cultivars, whereas Bouabar Aurès, Lakhdari and Amokrane with good fruit quality characteristics, although they have low fertility compared to the introduced ones. These local varieties are considered good across all varieties studied and should have special attention from scientists and grapevine producers.