Viti-Culture in India....- I

Introducing Grapes in India -

Grape cultivation is one of the most remunerative farming enterprises in India. Famous Indian medicine scholars, Sasruta and Charaka in their medical treatises entitled ‘Sasruta Samhita’ and ‘Charaka Samhita’, respectively, written during 1356-1220 BC, mentioned the medicinal properties of grapes. Kautilya in his ‘Arthashastra’ written in the fourth century BC mentioned the type of land suitable for grape cultivation. Native sapling, resembling Vitis lanata andVitis palmata grow wild in the northwestern Himalayan foothills. Indigenous varieties known as ‘Rangspay’, ‘Shonltu White’ and ‘Shonltu Red’ are grown in Himachal Pradesh even today.

Cultivated grapes are believed to have been introduced into the north of India by the Persian invaders in 1300 AD, from where they were introduced into the south (Daulatabad in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra) during the historic event of changing the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad by King Mohammed-bin-Tughlak. Ibn Batuta, a Moorish traveller who visited Daulatabad in 1430 AD, reported to have seen flourishing vineyards in south India. Grape was also introduced in the south into Salem and Madurai districts of Tamil Nadu by the Christian missionaries around 1832 AD, and into Hyderabad province by HEH, the Nizam of Hyderabad in the early part of the 20^th century. From Delhi, Daulatabad, Madurai, Salem and Hyderabad, grape cultivation spread to different parts of the country.

GRAPE CULTIVATION IN THE COUNTRY

Grape is grown under a variety of soil and climatic conditions in three distinct agro-climatic zones, namely, sub-tropical, hot tropical and mild tropical climatic regions in India.

Sub-tropical Region: This region covers the northwestern plains corresponding to 28° and 32° N latitude including Delhi; Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh; Hissar and Jind districts of Haryana; and Bhatinda, Ferozpur, Gurdaspur and Ludhiana districts of Punjab. Vines undergo dormancy and bud break starts in the first week of March while the rains arrive in the first week of June, and therefore, only 90-95 days are available from the initiation of growth to harvest. Consequently, ‘Perlette’ is the only early ripening variety grown in this region. Rain damage is a problem with Thompson Seedless in this region. Single pruning and a single harvest is the accepted practice here.

Hot Tropical Region: This region covers Nashik, Sangli, Solapur, Pune, Satara, Latur and Osmanabad districts of Maharashtra; Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Mahbubnagar, Anantapur and Medak districts of Andhra Pradesh; and Bijapur, Bagalkot, Belgaum, Gulberga districts of northern Karnataka lying between 15° and 20° N latitude. This is the major viticulture region accounting for 70 percent of the area under grapes in the country. Vines do not undergo dormancy and double pruning and a single harvest is the general practice in this region. Maximum and minimum temperature is 42°C and 8°C, respectively. The major problems in this region are soil and water salinity and drought. Berry growth is impaired and in certain locations pink blush sometimes develops on green berries due to temperatures that drop to a low of 8°C. Thompson Seedless and its clones (Tas-A-Ganesh, Sonaka), Anab-e-Shahi, Sharad Seedless and Flame Seedless are the varieties grown in this region.

Mild Tropical Region: An area covered by 10° and 15° N latitude including Bangalore and Kolar districts of Karnataka; Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh and Coimbatore; and Madurai and Theni districts of Tamil Nadu fall in this region. Maximum temperatures in a year seldom exceed 36°C, while the minimum is about 12°C. Principal varieties are Bangalore Blue (Syn. Isabella), Anab-e-Shahi, Gulabi (Syn. Muscat Hamburg), and Bhokri. Thompson Seedless is grown only with limited success. Except for Thompson Seedless, two crops are harvested in a year.

Vinifera varieties susceptible to mildew suffer losses due to unprecedented rains during flowering and fruit set in both hot and mild tropical regions.

Area and production of different varieties of grapes in India is as follows:

Variety	Area (ha)	Production (t)
Anab-e-Shahi (white, seeded)	3,000	135,000
Bangalore Blue Syn. Isabella (black, seeded)	4,500	180,000
Bhokri (white, seeded)	500	15,000
Flame Seedless (red, seedless)	500	10,000
Gulabi Syn. Muscat Hamburg (purple, seeded)	1,000	30,000
Perlette (white, seedless)	1,500	60,000
Sharad Seedless - A mutant of Kishmish Chorni (black, seedless)	1,000	20,000
Thomson Seedless and its mutants (white, seedless)	22,000	550,000
Total	34,000	1,000,000

Approximately 85 percent of the total production, irrespective of the variety, is consumed fresh. About 120,000 tonnes of Thompson Seedless and its mutants, namely, Tas-A-Ganesh, Sonaka and Manik Chaman are dried for raisins. Some 20,000 tonnes of Bangalore Blue are crushed to make juice, and 10,000 tonnes of Bangalore Blue, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Uni Blanc are crushed to process into wine.

Land Preparation and Vineyard Establishment

The land is tilled and laid into plots of 120 m x 180 m separated by 3 m wide roads. Land within a plot is levelled perfectly to have a gradient of less than 1 percent in any direction to ensure uniform discharge of water through the emitters of drip irrigation systems.

Trenches of 75 cm width, 75 cm depth and 118 m length in a north-south direction with a gap of 3 m between trenches are opened with heavy machinery. They are closed with topsoil, up to a height of 45 cm after 15 days exposure to sun. The remaining gap is filled with a mixture of soil, cattle manure, single superphosphate, sulphate of potash and micro-nutrients. Usually, 50 kg of cattle manure, 2.5 kg of superphosphate, 0.5 kg of sulphate of potash and 50 g each of ZnSO₄ and FeSO₄ are added to the soil for every running meter length of the trench.

Planting Season

The best season for planting the rooted cuttings of cultivated varieties in the main field is September-October whereas for rootstocks it is February-March.

Spacing

Spacing generally varies with the varieties and soil fertility. For vigorous varieties it is 6 m x 3 m or 4 m x 3 m and 3 m x 3 m or 3 m x 2 m for less vigorous varieties.

CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF VINEYARDS

1 Training of Vines

Many training systems are in vogue in India, but the most popular are Bower, Telephone and Flat Roof Gable systems.

Bower System: Owing to the high productive potential, bower was a very popular system of training in the past. It is highly suited for vigorous varieties like Anab-e-Shahi, Bangalore Blue and Gulabi. But in varieties like Thompson Seedless and Tas-A-Ganesh where vine vigour and excessive foliage density affects the productivity adversely, this system is not popular.

Telephone System: T-trellis is used in this system of training. With three top wires and ‘T’ shaped supports, the trellis looks like a telephone pole and wires and hence the name.

This system is followed for moderately vigorous varieties like Thompson Seedless and other seedless cultivars in about 25-30 percent of the vineyard area in Maharashtra. Yields in this system are less than the bower. In very hot and dry places, sunburn of the berries and of the arms are experienced in summer.

Flat Roof Gable System: Combining the advantage of bower and the extended Y systems and eliminating their disadvantages, an inter-connected Y trellis forming a flat roof gable is being adopted. This system is particularly followed for vigorous vines (vines grafted on rootstocks). The bunches are protected from direct sunlight and well exposed to sprays of pesticides. The clusters hang within the reach of the worker of an average height. Owing to these advantages, this system is gaining popularity among the growers in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

2 Pruning of Vines

Three distinct pruning practices are in vogue in relation to cropping in the three grape growing regions of the country. In the sub-tropical region, vines are pruned only once in December and the crop is harvested once. Half of the canes are pruned to renewal spurs and the rest to fruiting canes (3-4 nodes for Perlette).

In hot tropical regions, vines are pruned twice but only one crop is harvested. All canes in a vine are pruned back to single node spurs in March-May to develop canes and the canes are forward pruned in October-November for fruiting. The number of nodes retained on a cane varies with the variety and cane thickness. There is no scope to prune earlier than October and later than November due to unfavourable weather conditions.

In the mild tropical region, vines are pruned twice and the crop is harvested twice. In varieties like Gulabi and Bangalore Blue, which are fairly resistant to rain damage and in which fruit bud differentiation is not impaired by cloudy weather and rains, pruning is done at any time of the year. As a result, five crops are harvested every two years.

3 Application of Manure and Fertilizers

As vineyard soils are either sandy loams or heavy clays, the usage of organic manure has assumed high importance in India. A standard dose of 500:500:1000 kg of N, P₂O₅ and K₂O per hectare is followed in light sandy soils, while 660:880:660 kg are applied for heavy clay soils. The annual dose is fixed based on the petiole analysis carried out at 45 days after spur pruning. While 40 percent of the annual dose is given through organic sources, 60 percent is given as inorganic fertilizer. Calcium ammonium nitrate is usually not used. Sulphate of potash is the only source of potash used in place of muriate, particularly in heavy clay soils. Recently application of soluble fertilizers through drip irrigation is picking up. 40 percent of N, 50 percent of P₂O₅ and 33 percent of K₂O of the annual dose is given during the growth season and the rest in the fruiting season.

4 Weeding

Weeds between the rows of vines are removed mechanically by tractor drawn implements. Within the rows, weeds are manually hoed and removed. Sometimes the post-emergent weedicides, mainly glyphosate at about 2.0 kg/ha or paraquat at about 7.5 kg/ha is sprayed in fully grown vineyards.

5 Supplementary Irrigation

Since grapes are grown in areas where the evapotranspiration exceeds the precipitation, irrigation is essential. Less than 10 percent of the vineyard areas are surface irrigated, while the rest is irrigated by drip systems. Water requirement is calculated based on the pan evaporation using 0.8 as the crop factor. Water is applied at different rates at different stages of vine growth and berry development.

....Some more details....coming soon....