Foundation Plant Materials Service
University of California
Davis, CA 95616-8600
Phone: (530) 752-3590 - FAX (530) 752-2132

This is a good time to order mist propagated plants (MPP) in addition to hardwood cuttings.  The newest selections are available only as MPP and are shown on the attached list entitled: "New Materials Available From FPMS in the 1998-99 Season".  Most MPP ordered now will be ready for pick up from FPMS in the late summer 1999.  The amount of time required to fill an MPP order varies by as much as 6 months to one year, however, depending on other orders for the same selection and the amount of original material available to work with.  More exact estimates are available for specific selections upon request by contacting Kathy McGahan at FPMS (530-754-8100).

New Grape Materials
New materials offered for the first time this season include several exciting domestic and foreign selections.  Thanks to the financial support from the California Fruit Tree, Nut Tree and Grapevine Improvement Advisory Board (IAB),  FPMS has been able to collect, treat, and test valuable new clones for the public Grapevine Registration and Certification Program.  Customers may now order mist propagated plants of the new selections.  Hardwood cuttings will be available in about 2 years.  Plants ordered now will be supplied starting in the summer of 1999 and they will have provisional foundation status (see article on page 2).  The enclosed list entitled "New Materials Available from FPMS in the 1998-99 Season" shows all the new materials available.

California Heritage materials offered for the first time include three well respected Cabernet Sauvignon selections from the Napa Valley.  These were selected by Phil Freese and Deborah Golino from vineyards with a reputation for quality wine production.  The Niebaum-Coppola selection (FPMS 29) was from the old plantings near their winery which provided premium quality grapes.  The Disney Silverado selection (FPMS 30) was from an old vineyard off Silverado trail believed  to be planted with the See clone of Cabernet.  The Mondavi selection (FPMS 31) was from 50-year-old vines in the old Tokalon Vineyard.  All three selections were infected with viruses including leafroll.  Tissue culture was used to create selections that pass all the disease tests required by the California Grapevine Registration and Certification Program.   A clonal research trial is planned by Deborah Golino and Jim Wolpert to test these "new" selections side by side with the original virus infected selections.  The infected materials have been preserved at UC Davis since all of the original vineyards are gone.  Hopefully, this trial will answer longstanding questions about the effects of virus on wine quality as well as give us information about the performance of FPMS 29, 30, and 31 in comparison to better known FPMS Cabernet clones.  We very much appreciate the generosity of the three wineries for making these Heritage clones publicly available.

Bear Flat Merlot (FPMS 18) is another California Heritage selection being offered for the first time by FPMS.  In the 1995 ASEV Proceedings of the International Symposium on Clonal Selection, Daniel Roberts reported that the Bear Flat Merlot was preferred over FPMS selections 1,3,6, & 8 due to ripening, yield and wine quality in the specific vineyard where the trial was conducted.  Merlot 18 passed all the required disease tests without any treatment and was recently planted into the foundation block at FPMS.  Many thanks to Sterling Vineyards for making this selection public.

No treatment was necessary to qualify Pinot noir 54 for the foundation block planting this year.  It is reported to be from the French sparkling wine clone 871.  It was donated for the FPMS public collection by a California vineyard that obtained the material from the Saanichton Plant Quarantine Station in British Columbia.

Two old FPMS selections have just been added back into the foundation block.  One is Cabernet Sauvignon 08 which is a high yielding late maturing selection according to Jim Wolpert in the 1995 ASEV Proceedings of the International Symposium on Clonal Selection.  Pinot noir 22 was also just planted into the new foundation block.  It is a heat treated Gamay Beaujolais type of Pinot noir.  Material from these selections was qualified for the current foundation block using all the same tests required for new domestic selections.

New Rupestris Stem Pitting (RSP) Infected Materials
Rupestris Stem Pitting (RSP) infected materials are maintained and distributed from the FPMS RSP collection as nonregistered material.  All the selections in the RSP block were tested for disease on all the field indicators.   Some of the selections were also checked using ELISA and herbaceous disease tests.   Only materials that were negative for all diseases except RSP on all the tests run are included in this collection.

This year 6 Chardonnay and 9 Pinot noir selections, which are all reported to be from French sparkling wine clones, were added to the RSP block.   A new Nebbiolo selection that is reported to be from the Italian clone CVT 142 was also just planted.  In addition,  Carmenere 01, which was discussed in last year's newsletter,  was planted into the RSP block this year because it was found to be Stem Pitting infected.

A list showing all the selections available from the RSP+ block is enclosed with this newsletter.  Selections available for the first time this year are underlined.  Efforts are underway to eliminate RSP from most of the selections planted in the block.  Information about tissue culture elimination work and retesting of tissue culture materials is shown in the "attempts to eliminate RSP" column.

Old Foundation Vineyard Removal
The old foundation vineyard at FPMS is scheduled for removal in the spring of 1999.  Most of this vineyard was planted in the 1960s, so many vines were over 25 years old when we stopped using it as a source of foundation stock in 1993.  Some disease is now know to exist in this vineyard including rupestris stem pitting, leafroll, measles, and eutypa, but the records are incomplete and exact information about the disease status of each vine is not always known.

Several FPMS advisors and committees have reviewed the materials in the old foundation vineyard and made recommendations about what is appropriate to preserve for the future.  Most of the commercially important selections have been retested, qualified, and planted in the new foundation blocks.  Others are now in the process of being treated and retested to qualify them for future foundation plantings.  Some of the more eclectic materials will be transferred to the UCD Viticulture Department and National Germplasm Repository collections this winter, and  selections judged to be unimportant will be discarded.  Customers, willing to assume all the associated risks, may order material out of the old foundation vineyard for the last time this winter.

Provisional Registration Status
We have recently started to use a new, provisional ("P") registration category at FPMS.  In the past FPMS grape materials were either labeled registered ("R") or non-registered ("N").   Sometimes, however, this was not enough information to determine which materials were eligible for California registered increase block plantings.  The provisional status was created to distinguish registered materials eligible for increase block plantings from non-registered materials that will never be eligible for foundation stock status.

"Provisional foundation stock" means propagative materials taken from grapevines planted in the foundation block before they are professionally identified.  All vines in the foundation block, including provisional vines, have been propagated from selections that are negative on all prescribed disease tests.  Provisional foundation stock may be planted in registered increase blocks according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).  If foundation vine sources of provisional materials are later professionally identified then they become registered foundation mother vines and all propagation materials from those vines qualify for retroactive foundation stock tags.  Retroactive tags are issued to customers for qualified materials upon request.

The customer assumes all the risk associated with purchasing provisional materials.   If the mother vines are found to be incorrectly identified, then the registration status is changed to non-registered and no foundation tags are issued.  CDFA may require that incorrectly identified materials be removed from increase blocks.  FPMS does not give replacements or refunds for provisional materials later found to be incorrectly identified or diseased.

The provisional status is most frequently associated with new materials just planted into the foundation block.  Most of the selections on the FPMS new materials list have provisional registration status.  Customers who receive provisional foundation stock will see the "P" designation in the registration status column on their packing list. Customers are advised to  contact FPMS about two years after receiving provisional foundation stock to find out about the registration status and availability of foundation tags.

Retesting Foundation Mother Vines
Upgrading quality control for vines in the foundation block has been a high priority for FPMS in the 1990s.   Every vine in the foundation block is now tested by ELISA for grapevine fanleaf virus and tomato ring spot virus every other year.   In addition, every vine is tested by ELISA for leafroll-associated viruses every third year.   Some of the vines currently planted in the foundation block, however, have been propagated from materials that have not been field index tested since the 1960s.

Complete retesting is advisable periodically to check both for leafroll disease caused by strains not yet identified and mechanically transmitted diseases other than fanleaf and tomato ring spot.  Repeating the field index will also detect new or previously undetected fleck, corky bark and rupestris stem pitting disease.

The IAB has provided funds to woody index (field test) about 20 vines per year in 1997-98 and 1998-99.   In addition to the woody index,  FPMS is also rechecking these vines using all the herbaceous and ELISA tests used to qualify new materials for the foundation block.   Eight of the tests in progress have never been used to check these vines before and are not recognized in the current program regulations.  We hope to make this an ongoing program so that eventually all the vines from the important selections in the foundation block will be completely retested.

Results from the 1997-98 tests will be reported to CDFA and the participants in the California Grapevine Registration and Certification Program in the late spring of 1999.   Results from the 1998-99 tests will be reported to CDFA and the participants in the California Grapevine Registration and Certification Program in the late spring of 2000.

Foundation mother vines being retested in 1997-98:
Variety/selection#  Source Plant Location
Cabernet Sauvignon 04 BKN B2 V5
Chardonnay 04  BKN C5 V5
Dolcetto 01   BKS H4 V7
Merlot 06   BKN A13 V7
Merlot 09   BKS H4 V9
Pinot noir 09   BKS C15 V7
Pinot noir 16   BKN A16 V1
Pinot noir 23   BKN A16 V5
Pinot noir 37   BKS J6 V3
Primitivo 03   BKS G12 V5
Primitivo 05   BKS K6 V7
Primitivo 06   BKS K6 V9
Redglobe 01   BKS G13 V1
Redglobe 01   BKS G13 V2
Redglobe 01   BKS G13 V3
Redglobe 01   BKS G13 V4
Semillon 05   BKN A18 V9
Shiraz 07   BKS H12 V5
Thompson Seedless 02A BKN A19 V5
Thompson Seedless 02A BKN A19 V6
Zinfandel 01A   BKN C19 V9

Foundation mother vines being retested in 1998-99:
Variety/selection#  Source Plant Location
Cabernet Sauvignon 04 BKN B2 V6
Cabernet Sauvignon 06 BKN B2 V10
Cabernet Sauvignon 07 BKN C2 V1
Cabernet Sauvignon 15 BKN A3 V11
Grenache 03   BKN A11 V4
Malbec 04   BKS G3 V9
Malbec 06   BKN B12 V9
Petit Verdot 01  BKN B15 V2
Petit Verdot 02  BKN B15 V8
Pinot noir 32   BKS H2 V3
Pinot noir 39   BKS G13 V7
Sangiovese 02   BKS G16 V3
Sangiovese 04   BKS H9 V10
Semillon 05   BKN A18 V10
Shiraz 01   BKN B18 V7
Tempranillo 02  BKS H10 V7
Tinto Cao 01A  BKN B19 V1
White Riesling 09  BKS H14 V1
White Riesling 12  BKN C19 V8
Zinfandel 06   BKS H13 V1

Vines on Hold at FPMS
When occasional questions arise regarding the health and/or genetic characteristics of a vine or selection in the foundation vineyard, the vine(s) are put on hold.  Circumstances that trigger a hold designation are not certain or serious enough to cause a vine to be removed from the California Grapevine Registration and Certification Program.  However, materials are not distributed from vines on hold unless customers are informed about the concerns that generated the hold and are willing to accept all risks associated with the condition.

Most "holds" are the result of questionable results from laboratory or field disease tests.  However, sometimes vines are put on hold because visual symptoms that may indicate general health or variety identification problems are noticed.  Each vine in the foundation block is visually inspected twice a year by the FPMS Plant Pathologist,  Dr.  Adib Rowhani, and CDFA inspectors.  From time to time grape variety experts also inspect the foundation block and comment on variety names used.   Vines showing general health problems or symptoms of diseases such as measles or eutypa are put on hold.  Vines suspected of being incorrectly named are also placed on hold.

Vines placed on hold are reviewed periodically by Dr. Rowhani, other plant pathologists, and grape variety experts.  If further testing or observations clear the vine from suspicion of disease, genetic or naming problems, the hold is removed.  If questions persist, the hold remains and, if they are unquestionably linked to a problem that will adversely affect propagation materials, the vine is removed from the foundation block.

One of the selections placed on hold this year is Petit Verdot 01.  Both Petit Verdot selections 01 and 02 were reported to be shy bearing in the October 1991 FPMS Newsletter, but the severity of the problem was not clear.  Subsequent observation has shown that the Petit Verdot 01 vines produce an extremely small crop, so they were all placed on hold.  Anyone requesting this selection will be notified that the selection is not recommended for commercial vineyards due to low yields.   Petit Verdot 02 produces a typical crop and is being distributed without special disclaimers.

R&C Program changes
New draft regulations for the California Grapevine Registration and Certification Program have been prepared and are slowly making their way through the state review process.   A summary of the high points of the new regulations was given in the FPMS newsletter last year.  After an internal CDFA review process is completed, the regulations will be published and there will be a 45-day public comment period.   A public hearing may be held, if requested, during this 45-day period.  To request a copy of the draft regulations, contact Umesh Kodira at the Nursery Program office by phone: (916) 654-0435 or E-mail: Ukodira@cdfa.ca.gov.

California Grape Register
The "California Grape Register" is a reference booklet published annually by FPMS to help growers and nurseries locate California certified grape stock.  Nursery sources for registered grape selections are organized alphabetically by grape variety and nursery name.   Information is also given regarding the source, treatment and testing history for each registered selection.

In this year's edition, a new section was added and titled  "Additional Registered Grape Selections Recognized by CDFA".   This section lists grape selections that are still registered in the California Grapevine Registration and Certification Program but are no longer available from FPMS as foundation stock.  Qualified source vines do not exist in the current FPMS foundation blocks for selections in this category.  Registration at the private increase block level has been continued by CDFA, however,  because qualified materials from old FPMS source vines were distributed and planted in private increase blocks in the past.  Popular and/or important selections on the "Additional Registered Selections" list will be tested and treated as necessary to requalify mother vines for planting in the current FPMS foundation blocks.  Cabernet Sauvignon 08 and Pinot noir 22 are examples of selections that are undergoing this process.

To order a copy of the "California Grape Register" or any other grape publication distributed by FPMS, use the enclosed publication order form.

NAPPO
Grape growers and nurseries throughout the country are following the efforts of the North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO) to develop recommendations for Canada, Mexico, and the USA regarding grape quarantine standards.  NAPPO is a regional organization under the umbrella of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.  NAPPO is recognized in the North American Free Trade Agreement as the body which will provide technical assistance to trade experts in the field of plant health.

NAPPO will use guidelines established by the IPPC to develop standards to regulate and test for quarantine pests of grapevines in North America.  The IPPC allows for quarantine regulation of pests that are officially controlled or absent from the quarantine area, but other kinds of quarantine restrictions are considered unfair trade barriers.  Unfortunately, the IPPC quarantine model does not fit the current USA grape quarantine laws.

Grape quarantine laws and assorted certification programs in the USA have evolved over the last 45 years into a functional system for plant protection and disease control given the limited resources available.  The U.S. federal quarantine laws prohibit entry of grape materials infected with most harmful grape disease or pests, even if the diseases are already present in the country.  Quarantine tests are conducted exclusively by a few U.S. scientists with special permits, and they have frequently detected disease in certified grape materials from other countries.  Most diseases are eliminated from infected materials before release from quarantine.   This prevents widespread propagation of popular new foreign materials while they are still diseased.  Introduction of new strains of known diseases that may not be present or widespread in the USA is also prevented.  Since foreign grape selections only need to be tested once in this system, it costs less than an ongoing program to monitor foreign testing programs and sources.

Voluntary grapevine certification programs in California, Virginia, Oregon and Washington significantly limit disease in grape planting stock used in the USA because certified stock is from sources that test negative for harmful diseases.  Not all grapevines propagated in the country are certified, but the benefits from the programs extend beyond the official certified stock.  Non-certified stock is often derived from certified plantings, thereby improving the probability that the vines will be healthy.  Certification programs help to educate growers about grape diseases, so expectations regarding grape planting stock quality and nursery standards are higher.  Certification programs also serve as centers where problems related to grape planting stock are resolved.  These programs are financially self-supporting.

In the spring of 1998, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) sent a letter to selected grape growers and nurseries explaining the authority of IPPC and NAPPO and detailing possible   grape quarantine scenarios that would be compatible with IPPC guidelines (copies are available from FPMS upon request).  Removing all endemic diseases  from the U.S. federal grape quarantine laws was one possibility suggested in the letter.  This would probably reduce regulatory costs, but foreign materials carrying fanleaf, leafroll, corkybark and other serious diseases could flood into the country as a result and seriously harm the industry.   Another choice would be to take no action (i.e. refuse to adopt standards after NAPPO approves them) which might leave the USA vulnerable to lawsuit in the World Court.

Only one option was suggested that would preserve the long term quality of health in USA vineyards.  It involves creating and implementing regulatory programs that control the diseases and pests to be retained in the federal grape quarantine laws.  A nationwide grapevine certification program would be one way to do this.  Some of the elements from existing certification programs could serve as a basis for a national program, but significant amounts of time and money would be needed for start up and maintenance.  Meetings where grape growers and nursery people from around the nation can meet to discuss these issues are currently being planned for the spring of 1999.

Work is in progress to finalize and adopt NAPPO Grape Quarantine Standards that will be recommended to Mexico, Canada and the USA.  Each country will review the standards and decide to adopt or reject them.  Once the USA has accepted NAPPO standards, changes will occur.  To date, no deadlines have been set for completing these steps, but the NAPPO officials writing grape standards are currently asking for feedback from the grape industry.  It is important to communicate a willingness to address grape quarantine issues to them and ask for enough time to make decisions, formulate plans, raise money and implement appropriate programs and laws to address forthcoming NAPPO standards.

More information about NAPPO is available on the Internet at: http://www.nappo.org/menu_E.shtml.  Comments regarding grape NAPPO standards should be addressed to the USA representative on the grape standards panel, Peter Grosser at phone: 301-734-5786, FAX: 301-734-6799, or E mail: pgrosser@aphis.usda.gov .    If you would like to be added to the mailing list for future meetings about NAPPO, please contact FPMS.

A New Test for Grapevine Rupestris Stem Pitting
by Dr.Adib Rowhani
Grapevine rupestris stem pitting disease (RSP) causes a slow decline in the growth of grapevines and, after several years, affected vines may be smaller than healthy ones.   Only limited research documenting these effects on different grapevine species and cultivars has been published, so it is difficult to assess the magnitude of the effect of this disease on grape production.   Currently, RSP is detected by indexing on Vitis rupestris cv.  St.  George.  Symptoms include small pits on the woody cylinder immediately below the inoculum chip bud, but occasionally pits and grooves have occurred elsewhere on the wood cylinder.

In the past year we have been able to clone, sequence, and characterize the genome (genetic material) of a virus associated with RSP, hereafter referred to as grapevine rupestris stem pitting associated virus (GRSPaV).   We have determined the genome organization of this virus and found it to be most similar to apple stem pitting virus (a virus which causes pitting and grooving in apple trees) by phylogenetic analysis of replicase and coat protein amino acid sequences.

A reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was developed to detect GRSPaV  in grapevines.  When 62 RSP-positive grapevines (based on field indexing) were tested, all 62 vines were positive by PCR using three different sets  of primers (see table on next page).    Forty-three healthy controls tested at the same time included 23 V.  vinifera species (negative on St.  George) and 20 grape plants derived from a seedling population.   All the healthy controls tested negative by PCR.   We have also tested 118 St.  George rootstock vines in the FPMS block by PCR.   Our preliminary data showed that 117 vines tested positive by PCR (see table on next page).   Currently we are investigating the validity of our past biological index for RSP, in which we were using propagations from the above mentioned St.  George rootstocks as indicator plants.

The broad distribution of RSP in grapevines worldwide may be partially due to weak symptom expression in most cultivars, the relatively recent discovery of the disease, and the reliance on woody indicators with a two-year incubation period.   The PCR-based detection technique described here will greatly facilitate rapid detection of GRSPaV in field grown grapevines.

Although we have isolated and characterized a virus from an RSP-infected vine and established a good correlation between this virus and the disease by PCR, more research is required to:  1) clearly establish a causal relationship, 2) determine number of strains associated with the disease and symptom severity associated with each strain, 3) determine the correlation between isolated virus(es) and RSP, 4) design universal primers to detect all strains in a single reaction and specific primers for specific strains, and 5) test the validity of biological index using St.  George rootstock.

A comparison between PCR assay and biological index on RSP indicator St.  George
SAMPLE NO.  TESTED RSP POS.  by field index PCR POS.   % POS.
Scion 62 62 62 100
St.  George-15 118 Not tested since 1981* 117 99
Seedlings 20 Not tested 0 0
Scion 23 0 0 0

*one vine from this selection tested negative for RSP in 1981

FPMS Web Site Now Online!!
FPMS is pleased to announce that customers can now access FPMS program information, collection lists and ordering materials via its new site on the World Wide Web at http://fpms.ucdavis.edu.   Also available for the first time is our new department E-mail address, fpms@ucdavis.edu, to which customers can direct inquiries by E-mail about FPMS programs, materials and services.   E-mail inquiries will be directed to the staff member(s) best able to answer your questions.  We hope these new resources will help to make our program information and staff more readily accessible and will encourage you to learn even more about FPMS.

Please visit our Web site and check it out for yourself!  Any comments or questions regarding the site can be directed to webmaster Cheryl Covert at clcovert@ucdavis.edu or by phone at (530) 752-3590.

FPMS Grapevine User Fee Program
Collection of calendar 1997 grapevine user fees is winding down, with most customers having reported and paid their 1997 fees.   A second request for reports/payments went out on August 28, 1998 to those who had not yet submitted their payments and/or report forms.   Customers are reminded that those who have not taken care of their 1997 user fee obligations by November 15th, the grape ordering deadline, will not be included in the initial round of allocations for available material this dormant season.   Any questions or concerns regarding FPMS user fees can be directed to user fee program manager Cheryl Covert by phone at (530) 752-3590 or E-mail at clcovert@ucdavis.edu.

To address user fee compliance concerns, and because maximum compliance is essential to the financial health of the FPMS grape program, FPMS has been working to improve its communications and enforcement practices related to grape user fees.   As the latest step in this process, FPMS has contracted with the CDFA Audit Office to conduct audits of FPMS customers for compliance with FPMS user fees concurrently with IAB nursery assessment audits.   This year's experience was a good start, and CDFA auditors and FPMS will keep learning and fine tuning as the process continues next year.

Copyright ©1998 University of California  -  This page last updated May 15, 2001