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Around The Vineyard
Stop by & see us at...
The Unified Wine & Grape Symposium
Booth C1313
February 4-6, 2020
specific clean plant centers with proper contain- is administered by the California Department of
ment facilities and approved protocols to manage Agriculture (CDFA) and provides for the testing
the quarantine of specific crops. For grapevines, of source vines for grapevine viruses that cause
two import centers are available for introducing important diseases. Registered sources and certi-
quarantined planting material: The Foundation fied nursery stock are periodically inspected by the
Plant Services (FPS) at the University of California CDFA staff and are maintained by the participant
at Davis and the Clean Plant Center at Cornel nurseries. Starting in 1996, I participated and
University in Geneva, New York. provided input at the industry meetings that lead
to the revision of the California Grapevine R&C
Since pathogens are present in most grapevine program many years later. In 2010 the Grapevine
growing areas, certification programs are needed R&C program was revised to include testing of
to produce tested plant material that is free of foundation mother vines for the presence of a
known important pathogen. These plants are be comprehensive list of viruses. With funding from
distributed to nurseries that further propagate and the National Clean Plant Network, a new of foun-
sell them to growers. In the United States, certi- dation block “Russel Ranch” was started at the
fication programs are voluntary and are managed University of California at Davis in 2009.
by individual states. I am most familiar with the
certification program in California, and many US The planting material (both scion and rootstock
grapevine growing regions purchase planting mate- varieties) included in the new foundation block
rial from California nurseries. had to pass a rigorous testing program and have
been propagated using the “apical micro-shoot tip
The Grapevine California Registration and culture” technique. The apical micro-shoot tip
Certification (R&C) Program was first written into culture process is a plant tissue culture technique
law in the 1980’s. The Grapevine R&C Program that is used to eliminate pathogens from vegeta-
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