Ampelographic and Ampelometric Characterization of Berries and Seeds from Traditional Vineyards in Morocco

Abstract

Morocco, like other Mediterranean countries, is characterized by a great diversity of indigenous varieties of vines, “Vitis vinifera ssp. vinifera”, due to the climate and the heterogeneity of the landscapes, as well as the know-how and agricultural practices adopted by traditional farmers who have contributed preserving the genetic diversity of these indigenous grape varieties. Within the framework of this study, we seek the identification and characterization of 36 indigenous grape varieties sampled in northern and southern Morocco. The samples studied were taken from traditional vineyards in these regions. For the ampelographic and ampelometric descriptions, 26 characters were used according to a list of descriptors developed by the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV). Thus, the ampelographic and ampelometric approaches were refined by a principal component analysis (PCA), which made it possible to group the grape varieties into five distinct groups according to their correlations to the variables linked to the bunch, the berry, and the seed. The results obtained from these different approaches confirmed the presence of great inter-grape and intra-grape variability within the samples studied. This observation encourages us to make more efforts to maintain this variability and to fight against genetic erosion and the threat of environmental changes.