Phenological behaviour and thermal requirements of seedless grapes grown in the Submiddle São Francisco River

Abstract

This study aims to characterize the phenological behaviour, thermal requirements and the physical and physicochemical features at harvest of seedless grapes varieties ‘BRS Morena’, ‘BRS Clara’ and ‘BRS Linda’ under the conditions of the Submiddle São Francisco Valley. For this purpose, phenological periods were characterized, since pruning until early stage of budding, flowering, fruiting, ripening and harvesting, in addition to thermal requirements for each phase, expressed in degree-days (DG). At the harvest point, the bunch weight, the diameter of the berries, the pulp firmness, the soluble solids (SS), titratable acidity (TA) and the pH were determined. According to the results obtained during the study period, the cycles of the vines from pruning and harvesting were of 95 days and DG of 1,449, for ‘BRS Morena’; DG of 1,497 and 97 days for ‘BRS Clara’, and 103 days and 1,592 DG for ‘BRS Linda ‘. In general, the cultivars ‘BRS Morena’ and ‘BRS Clara’ had the physical and physicochemical potential for domestic and international markets, provided that management practices are used to improve some physical characteristics of these cultivars.