GRAPE

 Botanical Name: Vitis vinifera.

 Family: Vitaceae, Origin: western Asia and Europe.
 Skin of grape berry is covered with wax like layer which is called as cutin.
 Ideal time for planting- October
 Fe deficiency is very common in black soil.
 Thompson seedless variety with its clone occupies 55% area under grape
cultivation.
 Commercial propagation method: Hard wood cutting.
 The most common irrigation methods followed by growers is furrow or ring
method.
 Rains during ripening causes berry cracking and rotting.
 Bower system of training is mostly adopted in India. (High economic ratio). Cost
benefit ratio - 1:2.09
 Magnesium (Mg) element deficiency is universal in Grape.
 Average productivity of Grape in India (1695 t/hac) Highest in the world.
 Pruning intensity lowest (3-4 bud) in Bangalore blue.
 Pruning intensity highest (10-14 buds) in Thompson seedless.
 Highest mean bunch weight + Berry weight is obtained under bower system of
training.
 Berry drop in Grape due to defective and improper pollination and fertilization.
 Pink pigmentation develops in green grapes, if the diurnal differences are more
than 20 °C during ripening.
 In saline soil- dogridge is better.
 For Thompson seedless, the spacing of 1.8 x 2.5 m² is ideal for bower system.
 For Thompson seedless, the spacing of 1.8 x 3.0 m² is ideal for 'y' trellies system.
 Raisins are only processed product in India.
 Fruit- multi seeded berry.
 Kishmish Beli- Outstanding raisin grape cultivar.
 Substance responsible for aroma in grapes is methyl anthranilate (muscat
flavour).
 Tartaric acid is commercially extracted from grapes.
 Dogridge and 110-R are tolerant to drought and salinity
Page 1 of 10
 New varieties released: Pusa Aditi (Delhi state variety for NCR), Pusa- Swarnika

Planting time:
The ideal time for planting the un-rooted cuttings directly in the field is October.
Rooted cuttings are planted in January/February. When rootstock plants are
planted, budding or grafting is to be done in July/ August. Either chip budding or
wedge grafting is used.

Pruning
Pruning is the art and science of cutting away a portion of the plant parts to improve
the shape, growth, flowering and fruitfulness, and quality of the produce. Training
and pruning are important cultural operations combining both the scientific as well
as artistic approaches. Training mainly relates to form, shape, openness etc., while
pruning relates to development of fruit buds, productivity and quality of the fruit
plants. Both these practices should be done judiciously and carefully to achieve the
desired goals.
Training and pruning systems in vine crops
Training and pruning are important aspects of commercial grape and kiwifruit
growing. These operations are highly scientific and any error incurred can lead to
poor flowering and low production. Depending upon the grower's need and
investments, training systems are decided. Some of the common training systems
are described here.
Training systems
 Different training systems, viz. Head, Kniffin, Bower, Telephone, V-trellis, Y-
trellis, expanded-Y, Flat Roof Gable, etc. are popular in India.
 Productive potential of vines is better exploited on bower than on any other
system of training, though it is expensive, encourages occurrence of diseases,
and adverse for mechanization of cultural operations.
 On Head, Kniffin and Telephone systems of training, not only the yields are low
but the fruits are exposed to sun resulting in sun-burn of berries.
 The V and Y systems are slightly better than these systems in respect of less sun-
burn injury.

Page 2 of 10
 The expanded Y with long arms and Flat Roof Gable system connecting side
arms of adjacent rows are best-suited for training seedless grapes, since these
systems possess advantages of bower and are devoid of disadvantages associated
with it.

Head system:
It is the most low-cost system where a vine is allowed to grow single stem on a
stake. The main vine is allowed to grow up to 0.9 to 1.2 m and then it is beheaded
to allow side shoots. Four to six laterals are maintained on all directions form a
height of 75 cm. The laterals are then pruned at two nodes, which produce
secondary arms. The spurs are pruned as fruiting or renewal spurs so that regular
fruiting could be taken. After a few years of fruit, the vine appears to be as a small
bush. This is the least expensive of all the training systems. It is suitable for less
vigorous varieties with less degree of apical dominance and for those in which the
basal buds in a cane are fruitful, such as Beauty Seedless, Delight and Perlette in
North India and Gulabi in South India.

Page 3 of 10
Bower system:
Owing to its high production potential, it was a very popular system of training
till the recent past. It is suited for vigorous varieties, like, Anab-e Shahi, Bangalore
Blue and Gulabi. However, in varieties like Thompson Seedless and Tas-e-Ganesh,
which are vigorous and give excessive foliage density, that affects the productivity
adversely.

Telephone or T trellis system: (IBPS AFO 2020)

Also referred to as T-trellis is used for training some table and wine grapes. With
three top wires and T shaped supports, the trellis looks like a telephone pole with
wires. This system is followed for moderately vigorous varieties like Thompson
Seedless and other seedless cultivars. Yield in this system is less than the bower.
In very hot and dry places, sunburn of the berries and of the arms is experienced in
summer. It is mostly adopted for wine grape varieties. This type of training system,
best suited for wine-making varieties, is targeted for limited number of bunches.
Each arm is of 2' and there are two parallel wires running on each arm. In high
temperature areas, there are chances of getting dead arm symptoms.
Page 4 of 10
Kniffin system:
This system was developed by William Kniffin at New York, USA. It is best suited
for moderate vigor growing genotypes. The cordon is developed in multi-storied on
two wires are stretched at a height of a 2'6" from the ground. The growing shoot is
trimmed at 3", which give rise to two secondary branches. One is then allowed to
grow up to upper wire and then two secondary canes are developed in opposite
directions.

Page 5 of 10
On these, secondary canes give fruiting and renewal spurs are maintained for
achieving fruiting in the forthcoming season. Close planting of vines within a row
at spacing of 1.80 to 2.40 m. depending upon the vigour of the plant is followed
keeping the row to row distance at 3 m.

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 rootstock). The bunches on this system are protected from direct
sunlight and well exposed to sprays of pesticides. The clusters hang within the
reach of the workers of an average height. Owing to these advantages, this system is
gaining popularity among the growers in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and
Karnataka for grape.

V or Tatura trellis:
This system was developed at Tatura in Australia. The vines are trained on wires
across two arms of V shaped trellises. The secondary arm/cordons are developed
across the arms similar to Kinffin system. The canopy is open and provides good
ventilation leading to low disease incidence. However, it shows some problem
during spray in the inner canopy.

Y-trellis:
This system is similar to that of Flat Roof Gable system, except the length of the
individual arm. For table varieties, the arm length is maintained at 3.5', while for
wine varieties it is of 2' long. The arms are fixed at 3' and are separated at 120°
with a horizontal T in between to hold the two arms. There are three to four
parallel wires, which are spread on each arm. It is highly popular with the
growers in different grape growing areas of the country. It is highly productive
and the problems of 'Tatura' trellis are rectified due to its wider angle.

Page 6 of 10
Page 7 of 10
 Pruning practices in vine crops
 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-January 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 Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and North Karnataka, vines are pruned twice
(April and October). (NABARD 2019) (IBPS AFO 2021).
 The April pruning is generally termed as back pruning or foundation pruning.
While, October pruning is called fruit pruning or forward pruning.
 All the canes are pruned to spurs at back pruning, irrespective of the variety or
cane thickness. The number of buds retained on a cane at forward pruning
depends on variety and cane thickness. 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 unfavorable weather
conditions.
 In North India, vines are pruned in winter (December-January). Half of the
canes are pruned to renew spurs and the rest for fruiting canes. One or two buds
from the cordon (arm) are retained in renewed at spurs and 12 buds are retained
on fruiting canes. The number of buds left on fruiting canes depends on variety
and thickness of cane. Thick canes are pruned longer and the thin shorter. The
fruited canes are pruned to renewal spurs and the canes developed from renewal
spurs are pruned to fruiting canes in the next winter.

Growth regulators:
1. CCC for suppressing vigor of vine & increase fruit-fullness of bud.
2. GA3 for increasing berry size.
3. HCN to hasten bud break at winter pruning.
4. NAA (50 PPM) to reduce post-harvest fruit drop.

Page 8 of 10
5. MH for induction of male sterility.
6. Pink berry formation is common problem in Thompson seedless and its clone.

Varieties
 Currently, Thompson Seedless and its clone are the ruling varieties occupying
60% of the area, followed by Sharad Seedless and its clones (10%), Bangalore
Blue (10%), Anab-e-Shahi and Dilkhush together (5%), Gulabi and Bhokri
together (5%), Perlette and Beauty Seedless together (5%) and all other (5%).
 In India, more than twenty varieties are under cultivation. These can be grouped
into following categories based on color, sidedness and utility.
 Juice varieties: Bangalore Blue (Karnataka) and Bangalore Purple (Maharashtra).
 Raisin grapes:(White): Thompson seedless (Maharashtra, Karnataka), Tas-A-
Ganesh (Maharashtra, Karnataka), Sonaka (Maharashtra, Karnataka), Manik
Chaman (Maharashtra, Karnataka) and Manjari Navin Maharashtra).
 Raisin grapes (Black): Sharad seedless (Maharashtra).
 Table grapes (White seeded): Anab-e-Shahi (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka),
Dilkush (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka) and Bokhari (Pachadrakshi) (Tamil Nadu).
 Table grapes (White seedless): Thompson seedless (Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana), Tas-A-Ganesh.
Perlette (Punjab, Haryana) and Pusa Urvashi, (Punjab, Haryana). A promising
hybrid variety- Hur x Beauty Sedulous.
 Coloured seeded: Bangalore blue, Gulabi (muscat), Kishmish chorni.
 Coloured seedless: Beauty seedless, sharad seedless.

Physiological disorder:
a. Hen & Chicken disease is due to: Bo deficiency.
b. Berry or Blossom drop in grape is due to: Improper pollination & fertilization.
c. Developing pink pigmentation on berry: It is a common disorder of Thompson
Seedless and its clone Tas-A-Ganesh in Maharashtra. Pink blush develops on a few
ripe berries close to harvest. The pink colour turns to dull red colour and the berries
become soft and watery. They do not stand after harvest. Although the definite
cause of the disorder is not known, it is effectively avoided by wrapping the
bunches with paper at the initiation of berry softening.
Page 9 of 10
 THE ABOVE QUESTIONS HAS BEEN ASKED IN DIFFERENT IBPS
EXAMS, B.O.M EXAM ALSO IS CONDUCTED BY IBPS BOARD ONLY,
BY ANALYZING THE ABOVE QUESTIONS DO PREPARING
ACCORDINGLY, ALSO WE HAVE LAUNCHED THE BANK OF
MAHARSTHRA – AGRICULTURE FIELD OFFICER COURSE @1200
@899 ONLY, READ THE DETAILS BELOW
CLICK HERE FOR DEMO PDFS

Page 10 of 10