Determination of Fertility-Related Traits in Muscadine Grape Population

In this study, fertility-related traits of 90 muscadine grape genotypes were evaluated. Selected genotypes included 21 standard cultivars, 60 breeding lines, and nine Vitis × Muscadinia hybrids (VM hybrids). The first fruiting bud (FFB), bud fertility (BF), bud fertility coefficient (BFC), number of flowers/flower cluster (N.F/FC), fruit-set efficiency (FSE), number of clusters/vine (N.C/V), and yield/vine (Y/V) traits were evaluated. The FFB trait did not show significant differences among genotypes. The muscadine genotype O28-4-2-2 (1.6 ± 0.2) displayed the FFB closest to the base; however, O17-16-2-1, O18-2-1, and VM A12-10-2 genotypes had the most distant FFB (3.6 ± 0.3). All the other fertility-related traits varied widely among the population. The BF, BFC, N.F/FC, FSE, N.C/V, and Y/V exhibited a range estimated at 35.1%, 81.5%, 259.7, 63.3%, 177 C/V, and 22.3 kg/V, respectively. The muscadine genotypes O42-3-1 (36.7% ± 1.3) and Majesty (34% ± 1.2) exhibited the highest BF; however, the VM A12-10-2 (1.6% ± 0.1) recorded the lowest BF. The VM genotype O15-16-1 (82.8% ± 4.1) displayed the highest BFC; however, the VM A12-10-2 (1.3% ± 0.1) showed the lowest BFC. The muscadine genotypes D7-1-1 (280.3 F/FC ± 21.7) and O17-17-1 (20.7 F/FC ± 5.5) showed the highest and lowest N.F/FC, respectively. The maximum and minimum FSE was observed for the Rosa cultivar (65.7% ± 2.4) and muscadine genotype D7-1-1 (2.4% ± 0.2), respectively. The minimum N.C/V was recorded for VM genotype A12-10-2 (6 C/V ± 0.2) and maximum noted for muscadine genotypes B20-18-2 (183 C/V ± 7.5) and O44-14-1 (176 C/V ± 7.3). Muscadine genotype O23-11-2 (22.6 kg ± 1.1) produced the highest Y/V; however, the lowest yield was recorded for O15-17-1, Fry Seedless, Sugargate, and the VM genotypes and A12-10-2, with an average yield among them estimated at 0.4 kg ± 0.2.