The Economic Impact of Paraffin Type and Substrate Mixture on the Production of Grafted Vines—Case Study Muscat Ottonel

Abstract

The study focussed on a nursery by analyzing its strategic choices to obtain the best profit on grapevine planting material. The production of grapevine grafts involves high labor and material costs. In this study, Muscat Ottonel grape variety grafted on Oppenheim Sellection 4 rootstock was paraffined with different types of wax: standard wax (SW), paraffin with 8-chinolinol (8C) and paraffin with oxiquinolein (OX) (before callusing), and silver color (S), blue color (B) and standard (SW) paraffin (after grafting callusing and before planting in field nursery). After uprooting from the field nursery, all variants were paraffined with red paraffin for storage. The unit cost price was calculated based on total expenses and the yield of grafts obtained in the vine field nursery. The lowest price per unit cost was recorded for the 8C/S variant, directly related to the first quality yield after uprooting from the nursery. The highest profit rate was for the 8C/S variant, while the lowest was registered to the SW/SW variant. The grafts of the 8C/S variant were potted in three rooting mixtures. Variant B (forest ground 60% + black peat 25% + river sand 10% + conifer sawdust 5%) generated the highest yield of the potted grafted vine with a rate of profit of over 170%, due to the lower production cost and high yield of potted vines, while variant C (forest ground 70% + river sand 15% + conifer sawdust 15%), determinate the lowest yield. Results may be useful in orienting the small-to-medium grapevine planting materials producers to choose the best cooperative strategies, which nurseries might implement to enhance their competitiveness and survive in the long-run.