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Fruity. Dry. Full bodied, with a hint of oak, pepper or blackberry. There are as many descriptions of wines... as there are berries in a bunch. Grape growers carefully cultivate their grapes to produce their best individual wines. But they all face a common foe... fungal disease. Fungal diseases, including powdery mildew, cost the Australian wine grape industry around 100 million dollars a year in spraying and lost crops. So scientists from Australia's science organisation, CSIRO, are trying to find a solution. Dr. Simon Robinson, is looking at wild varieties of grapes to see why they have resistance to the diseases. If he can isolate the gene that offers them protection, he maybe able to transfer it into the cultivated grapes. The first step was to find out how to transfer a gene into grapevines. And after ten years, that has now been achieved. The second step is to find the right gene to transfer. It may be another ten years, before the right disease resistant gene is found for transferring into cultivated grapes. But when it is, it will mean better quality, cleaner grapes, that are no longer reliant on chemical fungicides, ensuring Australia's on going reputation as a top wine producer. |
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For more information
on Disease Resistant Grapes please contact: |
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Dr. Simon Robinson |
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This site is optimised for browsers that support tables. Updated 20 September 2005 |