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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Poplarville, Mississippi » Southern Horticultural Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #261471
Title: Eudora muscadine grape

Author
item Stringer, Stephen
item Shaw, Donna
item GRAY, DENNIS - University Of Florida

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/19/2010
Publication Date: 1/1/2011
Citation: Stringer, S.J., Marshall, D.A., Gray, D. 2011. Eudora muscadine grape. HortScience. 46(1)143-144.

Interpretive Summary: 'Eudora', a purple fruited muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia Michx.) intended for the fresh market, has been approved for joint release as a public domain cultivar by the University of Florida Experiment Station and the USDA-ARS. ‘Eudora’ ripens in mid-season (late August), is high yielding, and is resistant to Pierce’s disease as well as many fruit rots. The most outstanding features of ‘Eudora’ making it desirable for the fresh market are its excellent taste and texture, edible skin, high sugar content, and relatively large berries (10g) that are borne on tight clusters. 'Eudora' berries also have the potential to be processed into juice and jelly. Although overall ripening among clusters is uneven, ripening within clusters is generally uniform making it most suitable for manual harvesting. 'Eudora' is amenable to organic and low input sustainable systems. Plants at the Mississippi State University and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES) in McNeill, MS, for instance, show resistance to insects and diseases and have required no applications of insecticides or fungicides. This muscadine would be a great addition to a vineyard or a homeowner yard as edible landscape. ‘Eudora’ is suitable for use in both homeowner and commercial settings where self-fertile pollinizer cultivars are interplanted and where cluster harvesting is practiced. This information could be used by extension agents for use with homeowners or small farmers who would like to diversify their products. Other scientists, especially fruit geneticist could use this information to improve their muscadine breeding programs. With the nutriceutical aspects of muscadine grapes, this could be a great up-and-coming crop. 'Eudora' would certainly be a great start or addition to a vineyard, landscape or u-pick farm.

Technical Abstract: 'Eudora', a purple fruited muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia Michx.) intended for the fresh market, has been approved for joint release as a public domain cultivar by the University of Florida Experiment Station and the USDA-ARS. ‘Eudora’ ripens in mid-season (late August), is high yielding, and is resistant to Pierce’s disease as well as many fruit rots. The most outstanding features of ‘Eudora’ making it desirable for the fresh market are its excellent taste and texture, edible skin, high sugar content, and relatively large berries (10g) that are borne on tight clusters. 'Eudora' berries also have the potential to be processed into juice and jelly. Although overall ripening among clusters is uneven, ripening within clusters is generally uniform making it most suitable for manual harvesting. Cluster harvesting of muscadine grapes has advantages over individually harvesting berries. First, cluster harvested berries have a greater shelf life resulting from protection by a tight cluster. Second, there are no exposed scars resulting from pedicel detachment that may lead to deterioration and fungal infection. Third, clusters of grapes are less expensive to clean, sort and pack than are individual berries (Morris and Blevins, 2001). 'Eudora' is amenable to organic and low input sustainable systems. Plants at the Mississippi State University and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES) in McNeill, MS, for instance, show resistance to insects and diseases and have required no applications of insecticides or fungicides. ‘Eudora’ is suitable for use in both homeowner and commercial settings where self-fertile pollinizer cultivars are interplanted and where cluster harvesting is practiced.