Genetic variability and divergence studies to identify superior germplasm for wine grape (Vitis sp.) under semi-arid condition

The study was carried out to assess genetic variability of wine grape germplasm at ICAR- National Research Centre for Grapes, Pune during 2020–21, 2021-2022 and 2022- 2023. A total of 75 germplasm were evaluated for various yield-contributing traits. The combined data from three years revealed significant difference among all genotypes. The germplasm, Arka Hans, Arka Shyam, Clairette, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat White, and Petit Syrah, performed well during all year. The pruning biomass demonstrated the highest phenotypic and genotypic of variability (68.39% and 68.28%, respectively). The bunch weight, berry weight, number of berries/bunch, seed weight, bunch width, berry length, compactness and peduncle length exhibited high heritability. Based on Mahalanobis D2 statistics, three cluster were identified with a majority of germplasm falling into cluster I group while cluster II showed highest intra-cluster similarity (3.86 %) that demonstrated maximum genetic diversity.