Grapes (Vitis sp.) are diverse in shape, rich in color, and deeply loved by consumers. Currently, China has one of the largest planted vineyard areas worldwide (Gutiérrez-Gamboa et al. 2020). The main cultivars in production are Summer Black (early maturing), Fujiminori (early-mid maturing), Kyoho (mid maturing), Midknight beauty (midlate maturing), and Red Globe (late maturing). With the rise of agro-tourism, personalized and distinctive grapes have gradually attracted the attention of both breeders and growers. New grape cultivars, such as Sweet Sapphire with an elongated oval shape and intense purple color without seeds (de Freitas Laiber Pascoal et al. 2022), Manicure Finger with fingerlike berries with a bright red top and yellow base (Xia et al. 2021), and Xiaolajiao with bending waist shape berries (Xu et al. 2015), have been developed. Early maturing grape cultivars have great economic benefits because of their early marketing. Many early maturing grape cultivars have been developed, including Black Star (Park et al. 2022), Fengzao (Xi et al. 2017), and Tiangong Moyu (Wei et al. 2020).

According to the International Vine and Wine Organization statistics for 2021, China’s grape area has reached 784,750 ha, making it the world’s largest producer and consumer of table grapes. To continuously enrich the population of table grape cultivars and enhance the competitiveness of the grape market and consumer satisfaction, the Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences (ZAAS) created uniquely shaped genetic resources with early maturation, quality, and muscat flavor. As a result, we developed a pumpkin-shaped grape cultivar, Tiangong Chuxin, which is an early maturing cultivar.

Origin

‘Tiangong Chuxin’ is a cross between ‘Red Alexandria’ (Vitis vinifera L.) and ‘Jingmi’ (V. vinifera L.) and is a diploid variety (Fig. 1). This cross was made in 2013 at the Yangdu farm of ZAAS located in Haining, Jiaxing, China. After the artificial cross, 1100 seeds were harvested in the same year. In 2014, seeds with broken dormancy were sown, and 325 hybrid seedlings were obtained. They entered the fruiting period in 2016. After years of observation, in 2016–17, the grape superior line with the number C10-13-682 was selected, which has an oblate fruit shape, edge marks, is early maturing, has good flower bud differentiation, and has strong muscat flavor. It was then multiplied to evaluate vine performance and fruit quality in the greenhouse. In 2018–21, many vines were planted 2.5 m between rows and 1 m between plants to evaluate their field performance, with ‘Ruidu Hongyu’ as a control. ‘Ruidu Hongyu’ is an early maturing, red, muscat-flavor grape similar to ‘Tiangong Chuxin’. After evaluation, it was eventually named ‘Tiangong Chuxin’ in 2022 and applied for receiving Plant Variety Protection (CNA20201005845) from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China (MARA).

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Description

Growth and fruiting habits.

The germination rate of ‘Tiangong Chuxin’ was 88.4%, the fruiting branch rate was 91.9%, and the average number of flower clusters per fruit branch was 1.2. The flowers are hermaphroditic. Budburst and flowering dates in ‘Tiangong Chuxin’ are 13 Mar and 28 Apr, respectively.

Berry characteristics.

The skin of the berries was thin and crisp, without astringency. The berries were oblate with three to four obvious furrows and had an average weight of 4.4 g of seeds (Fig. 2). ‘Tiangong Chuxin’ berries were similar in weight to ‘Ruidu Hongyu’ berries. Grapes have a strong muscat flavor when they are at full maturity. ‘Tiangong Chuxin’ ripens on 10 Jul in Haining, Jiaxing, China, ∼5 d earlier than ‘Ruidu Hongyu’. The total soluble solid content of berries was 20% °Brix, which is greater than that of ‘Ruidu Hongyu’ berries (Table 1). In contrast, ‘Tiangong Chuxin’ berry acidity was 0.29%, which was lower than that of ‘Ruidu Hongyu’, and the balance between sweetness and acidity enhanced the taste of ‘Tiangong Chuxin’ grapes.

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Table 1.Characteristics of ‘Tiangong Chuxin’ and ‘Ruidu Hongyu’ grown in Haining, Jiaxing, China.

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Cluster characteristics.

The average cluster weight of ‘Tiangong Chuxin’ was 349.1 g. The clusters were conical in shape, medium-dense, and difficult to separate from the stems. The uniform shape and red skin color of the berries resulted in an excellent clustered appearance. We observed minimal berry shattering during postharvest transportation. These characteristics increase the marketability of grapes. The fruit productivity of ‘Tiangong Chuxin’ from 3-year-old trees was 3.9 kg/vine, which was similar to that of ‘Ruidu Hongyu’.

Vine characteristics.

‘Tiangong Chuxin’ vines display moderately vigorous growth, and proper canopy management is required during the growing season. Inflorescence development is promoted by topping leaves on the inflorescence. By investigating the disease index of grapes at maturity in the greenhouse, it was found that the occurrence of gray mold (Botrytis cinerea) was lower. Therefore, fungicide treatment should be performed before and after flowering to prevent gray mold. ‘Tiangong Chuxin’ is suitable for cultivation in the Yangtze River Delta, but attention should be paid to controlling water during grape ripening to prevent fruit cracking.

Availability

Tiangong Chuxin is a protected cultivar by MARA and is owned by ZAAS. Requests for cuttings for research purposes may be addressed to Jianhui Cheng (chengjianhui@zaas.ac.cn).