Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The Southern Extension Research Activity 14 held its 2005 Annual Meeting October 4-6 in Augusta, Missouri. States with representatives attending were Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Mississippi and a state report was also submitted by North Carolina. The meeting began with a reception held at the Montelle Winery in Augusta on Tuesday evening, October 4. Tours of the Montelle, Augusta, and Mount Pleasant vineyards and wineries the following day focused on exchange of information on the growing of grapes and the production of wine. The business meeting was held on the morning of October 5. The 2005 Nesbitt Award was given by the group to Keith Striegler, Mid-America Viticulture and Enology Center, Missouri State University, in recognition of excellence in grape and wine research and for outstanding service to the grape industry across the Nation. The Nesbitt Award is designed to honor the career of a professional member of the SERA 14 grape working group for significant research and/or extension contributions to the grape industry in the Southern Region. An optional tour was made to the Chaumette and Crown Valley vineyards and wineries in the St. Genevieve area during the afternoon and evening of Thursday, October 6. The SERA 14 Business Meeting, including delivery and discussion of state reports, took place Thursday morning at the Mount Pleasant facilities. Justin Morris, Extension Administrative Adviser, reported that Greg Weidemann, Research Administrative Adviser, expressed his regret at not being able to attend and his best wishes for a productive meeting. Jim Anderson, program coordinator of the Missouri Grape and Wine Advisory Board, began that meeting by presenting information on how the Missouri grape industry is organized and conducts it activities. In addition to initiatives to support vineyards and wineries, promotion of tourism is a high priority for the board. A compilation of state reports had previously been distributed, and oral versions of the state reports were presented in an informal format that allowed emphasis on the most pressing issues in each state and discussion of these issues with other state representatives. Documents supporting major issues were also supplied. A report on the National Grape and Wine Initiative was provided for the group. The background and priorities of this new national initiative were presented by Justin Morris and then discussed by the group. Ed Hellman presented information on how the consortium is organized and on future meetings and funding opportunities. He also commented on the availability of funding for variety trials through the multi-state project NE-1020. It was decided that the 2006 annual meeting will be held in East Tennessee, with Dave Lockwood and Bill Morris serving as Co-Chairs for the meeting. The Institute of Food Science and Engineering, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, compiled the summary reports of the contributing states for distribution at the meeting. The state summary reports are being posted on the SERA 14 website at http://sera-ieg-14.tamu.edu/

Collaborative research and Extension activities among participants New variety releases and production systems; product development and product quality evaluation Research and Extension publications and other education and technical information materials There are 277 wineries in the region that produce in excess of 4,500,000 gallons of wine annually. A conservative estimate of the yearly gross retail value of these wines exceeds one quarter of a billion dollars. Grape and wine production is an important alternative agricultural enterprise. Work on Pierce's Disease and other diseases affecting susceptible grape species continues to be important. The suitability of muscadine grapes for wine and other value-added products continues to be a fertile field for investigation in the South. All of our activities are consistent with, and speak to fulfillment of, our five stated Objectives with the outputs among those listed for each of those objectives. The SERA 14 website http://sera-ieg-14.tamu.edu/ provides participants the ability to share information and more importantly provides a mechanism to widely disseminate research results and information to all stakeholders. Efforts to increase the visibility of the Group's activities will allow recognition of the value of those activities to our stakeholders. As previously reported, the patent for the Morris-Oldridge Vineyard Mechanization System has been licensed by the University of Arkansas, and is currently being commercially marketed. During the 2005 season, research continued for the fourth year at a commercial vineyard in the Central Coast Region of California. Large scale studies (20 to 40-acre blocks) compare yield and quality of hand vs. machine production with six different cultivars. The actual yields obtained using mechanization have been very close to the target yield demanded by the winery, with fruit quality parameters almost identical between the hand and machine treatments. The vineyard data and winemaking results have shown that the commercial mechanization systems can be used by growers to successfully achieve the yield, quality, and canopy management goals that are expected of them by their wineries. An article in the Jan/Feb, 2005 issue of Vineyard and Winery Management presented an in-depth look at the implementation of mechanization and a brief discussion of the advantages of vineyard mechanization. The increase in interest in grape production that exists in almost every state in the Region has led to an increase in the number of programs to assist growers. In Kentucky, vineyard site selection assistance is being provided to the industry, based on GIS, climatological and topological raw data. State advisement programs common throughout the Region include workshops, field days, conferences, production short courses, newsletters, electronic advisories, site visits. A three-year cooperative project of Missouri and Arkansas is concerned with vineyard best management practices. Plots were set out in three "lighthouse" vineyards in each state to demonstrate the effects of specific practices and data is collected from each. Monthly tailgate meetings are held at these lighthouse vineyards throughout the season. These meetings emphasize the management practices occurring at that time, especially pest management practices. This tailgate BMP program has been very well received by growers. Oklahoma provides similar information at monthly meetings held at its wine grape demonstration vineyard during the growing season. Tennessee is preparing regional management guides. A three-day short course in viticulture was offered in Texas. A Research Report presented production budgets for wine and juice grapes suitable for cultivation in Arkansas. Varieties examined include V. labruscana, French-American and American hybrids, V. aestivalis, V. rotundifolia, and V. vinifera. Important production considerations specific to each of these varieties are summarized. Results indicate considerable variation in profit potential among varieties. However, one or more varieties can be profitably grown in most regions of the state. These budgets are adapted and used by prospective growers nationally. Muscadines, already an important regional grape, has enormous potential to play an even more important role in the grape and wine activities of the Region. Extensive and intensive research and Extension materials concentrating on muscadines are provided throughout the Region. These educational efforts are being assisted by a growing number of agencies in the various states providing financial assistance to their nascent muscadine industries. Additional SERA IEG-14 website links to existing and developing Muscadine resources have been posted. An example is the 2005 Southeast Regional Muscadine Grape Integrated Management Guide, from North Carolina State University, a comprehensive document for cultural practices, disease, insect and weed control, to be updated annually. Pierce's Disease (PD) is the bane of grape growers in many Southern states, severely limiting successful production of many grape species. Texas has obtained Increased funding for PD research to study the dynamics of disease spread, supplemental hosts of the pathogen and vectors, known and potential insect vectors, vector-host relationships, vineyard ecosystem composition, and genetic analysis of the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, its causal organism. These data will be integrated into a Geographic Information System that may lead to discovery of important relationships between the vector and/or pathogen and environmental factors or vineyard conditions. University of Florida researchers achieved the breakthrough of producing plants that are highly resistant to PD. The level of PD resistance is so high that, even in stringent greenhouse screening tests, transgenic plants survive under inoculum conditions that severely affect even PD-resistant Florida hybrids. Plans for the coming year include continuing the effort to add SERA 14 website links to existing and developing Muscadine resources. Pierce's Disease work will continue and the need for disseminating information on PD will be addressed by research publications and additonal postings to the SERA 14 website.

Allen, A. 2004. Grape maturity and sampling for growers. Mid-America Viticulture and Enology Center, Southwest Missouri State University-Mountain Grove Campus, Vineyard and Vintage View 19(2): 1-4. Allen, A. 2004. Caring for the postharvest vineyard. Mid-America Viticulture and Enology Center, Southwest Missouri State University-Mountain Grove Campus, Vineyard and Vintage View 19(3): 4-5. Allen, A. 2004. Grapevine cold hardiness - Part I. Mid-America Viticulture and Enology Center, Southwest Missouri State University-Mountain Grove Campus, Vineyard and Vintage View 19(4): 5-7. Allen, A. 2005. Cold hardiness - Part II. Genetic influences. Mid-America Viticulture and Enology Center, Southwest Missouri State University-Mountain Grove Campus, Vineyard and Vintage View 20(1): 3-5 Bates, T., J.R. Morris, and G.L. Main. 2004. Total vineyard mechanization to optimize yield and quality of grapes. In: Overview of Viticulture Consortium-East, New York Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University, Geneva, New York. Report of 2004 proposals received and awards made and final reports for grant year 2003. pp. 226-238. Gray, D. J., First muscadine harvest at the new Mid-Florida Research and Education Center, Grape Times, Fla. Grape Growers Assoc. Newsletter, 2, 2004, 4. Gray, D. J., A new website to support and promote Florida viticulture, Grape Times, Fla. Grape Growers Assoc. Newsletter, 10, 2004, 3. Gray, D. J., S. Jayasankar and Z. Li, Vitaceae (Grape Vitis spp.), Chap. 22, In: R. E. Litz (Ed.), Biotechnology of Fruit and Nut Crops, Biotechnology in Agriculture Series, No. 29, CAB International Wallingford, U.K., 2005, pp. 672-706. Gray, D. J., Z. Li and J. Subramanian, Tissue-specific expression of lytic peptides in transgenic grapevines via use of a GFP/NPTII fusion marker, Invited publication, 2nd International Symposium on Biotechnology of Tropical and Subtropical Species, ACTA Hort., 2004, (In Press). Jayasankar S., M. Van Aman, J. Cordts, Z. Li and D. J. Gray, Long term storage of suspension culture-derived grapevine somatic embryos and regeneration of plants, In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol. Plant (In Press). Li, Z. and D. J. Gray, Isolation by improved TAIL-PCR and characterization of a seed specific 2S albumin gene and its promoter from grape (Vitis vinifera L.). Genome 48, 2005, 312-320. Johnson, D. T. 2005. History and management of green June beetle and Japanese beetle. Mid-America Viticulture and Enology Center, Southwest Missouri State University-Mountain Grove Campus, Vineyard and Vintage View Spring 20(1): 7-9. Lu, J., H. Huang, W. Hunter, P. Dang, S. Leong. Identification of Disease Defense- and Stress Related Genes in the Grape Vitis shuttleworthii Grape though EST Analysis. International Conference of Plant and Animal Genome. San Diego, California Main, G.L. 2005. Growing and vinting Cynthiana/Norton grapes. Proceedings of 24th Annual Horticultural Industries Show, Fort Smith, AR January 14-15. pg 77-81. Main, G.L., J.R. Morris and R.T. Threlfall. 2005. Comparison of methods to increase sugars for production of white table and dessert style wines. J. Food Quality. In review. Mertens-Talcott, S.U., Bomser, J.A., Romero, C., Talcott, S.T., and Percival, S.S. Ellagic acid potentiates the effect of quercetin on p21waf1/cip1, p53 and MAP-kinases without affecting intracellular generation of reactive oxygen species in vitro. J.Nutr. 135(3):609-14, 2005. Mertens-Talcott, S.U. and Percival, S.S. Ellagic Acid and Quercetin Interact Synergistically with Resveratrol in the Induction of Apoptosis, and Cause Transient Cell Cycle Arrest in Human Leukemia Cells. Cancer Letters 218:141-151, 2005. Morris, J.R. 2005. Successful total vineyard mechanization. Vineyard and Winery Management. 31(1): 84-90. Morris, J.R and P.L. Brady. 2005. The Muscadine Experience: Adding Value to Enhance Profits, Research Report 974. Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Morris, J.R., G.L. Main and O.L. Oswald. 2004. Flower cluster and shoot thinning for crop control in French-American Hybrid grapes. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 55(4):423-426. Morris, J.R., G.L. Main, and R.K. Striegler. 2005. Rootstock effects on Sunbelt productivity and fruit composition. In: Grapevine Rootstocks: Current Use, Research, and Application. Proceedings of the 2005 Rootstock Symposium. Peter Cousins and Keith Striegler (Eds.). pp. 77-83. Osage Beach, MO. February 5, 2005. Noguera, E., J.R. Morris, R.K. Striegler and M. Thomsen. 2005. Production Budgets for Arkansas Wine and Juice Grapes, Research Report 976. Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Noguera, E., J.R. Morris, R.K. Striegler and M. Thomsen. 2005. Update on Vineyard Economics in Arkansas. In: Wine East Buyers Guide. H. Cattell and L.J. McKee (eds.). Wine East. Lancaster, Penn. Pp. 12-31. Striegler, R.K., P.M. Carter, J.R. Morris, J.R. Clark, R.T. Threlfall, and L.R. Howard. 2005. Yield, quality and nutraceutical potential of selected muscadine cultivars grown in southwest Arkansas. HortTech. 15(2):276-284. Striegler, R.K., J.R. Morris, G.L. Main and C.B. Lake. 2005. Effect of rootstock on fruit composition, yield, growth, and vine nutritional status of Cabernet franc. In: Grapevine Rootstocks: Current Use, Research, and Application. Proceedings of the 2005 Rootstock Symposium. Peter Cousins and Keith Striegler (Eds.). pp. 84-93. Osage Beach, MO. February 5, 2005. Threlfall, R.T., G.L. Main and J.R. Morris. 2005. Laboratory handling of red grapes to estimate wine composition from microvinification. Submitted. Threlfall, R.T., J.R. Morris, L.R. Howard, C.R. Brownmiller and T.L. Walker. 2005. Pressing effects on yield, quality, and nutraceutical content of juice, seeds, and skins from Black Beauty and Sunbelt grapes. J. Food Sci. 70(3):167-171. Threlfall, R.T. and J.R. Morris. 2005. Yeast rehydration aid and nutrients to enhance initiation and completion of wine fermentation. Italian J. Food Sci. In review. Walker, T.L., J.R. Morris, R.T. Threlfall, and G.L. Main. 2004. Quality, sensory and cost comparison for pH reduction of Syrah wine using ion exchange or tartaric acid. J. Food Quality. 27:483-496. Williamson, J. R. and D. T. Johnson. 2005. Effects of grape berry moth management practices and landscape on arthropod diversity in grape vineyards in the southern United States. HortTechnology 15: 232-238.