Identification and characterization of Romanian grapevine genetic resources

The research focused on old Romanian varieties of local distribution, with very limited growing area and also on those nowadays neglected, to identify, characterize and compare these cultivars with one another and on a larger geographic scale. Ampelografic characterization with 48 descriptors, photographs of shoot tip, leaf and bunch and genotyping using 13 SSR markers were applied together with literature references to confirm trueness to type. The sixty one accessions belonged to fifty one varieties. New synonymies were detected (e.g. 'Negru românesc' = 'Bātutā neagrā'; 'Cârcioasā' = 'Balint weiss'; 'Galbenā māruntā' = 'Kakotrygis'), assignments were modified (e.g. 'Galbenā uriasā' = 'Mirkovaca' and ≠ 'Galbenā de Odobesti' as previously assumed), misnomers identified and unique genotypes were detected which had never been described before. Molecular data supported previous pedigree relationships and allowed new parent-offspring hypotheses to be formulated. The results were shown to be useful for updating the information on old Romanian grapevine germplasm.