Scientia Horticulturae 204 (2016) 25–32 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Scientia Horticulturae journal h om epage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scihorti Yield responses in Flame seedless, Thompson seedless and Red Globe table grape cultivars are differentially modified by rootstocks under semi arid conditions Antonio Ibacache a , Francisco Albornoz b,∗ , Andres Zurita-Silva a a Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias INIA, Centro de Investigación Intihuasi, Colina San Joaquin s/n, P.O. Box 36-B, La Serena, Chile b Departamento de Ciencias Vegetales, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Vicu˜ na Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago, Chile a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 1 December 2015 Received in revised form 23 March 2016 Accepted 29 March 2016 Keywords: Yield components Multivariate analysis Rootstocks Semiarid region a b s t r a c t A field study was conducted during six seasons (2004–2009) to assess rootstocks effects over yield in three table grape cultivars (Thompson seedless, Flame seedless and Red Globe). Nine commercially available rootstocks (Couderc 1613, Freedom, Harmony, Paulsen 1103, Richter 99, Richter 110, Ruggeri 140, Saint George and Salt Creek) plus a control treatment (own-rooted vines) were evaluated under semiarid con- ditions of northern Chile. A multivariate analysis approach consisting of principal components analysis and cluster analysis was used to segregate those rootstocks with similar influence within each cultivar scion. Three significant clusters were found in Flame seedless and Thompson seedless, while Red Globe showed four significant clusters. Analysis of variance were conducted to evaluate differences in fruit yield, pruning weight, budburst, fruit set, bunch weight, berry weight, berry diameter and rachis weight between rootstock clusters. All rootstocks but Saint George increased yield in Flame seedless, while Salt Creek was the only rootstock with positive effects in Thompson seedless. The use of either Couderc 1613, Freedom, Harmony, Paulsen 1103 or Salt Creek was recommended in Red Globe. This is the first mid- term study with a multivariate analysis of yield components in three table grape cultivars evaluating nine rootstocks in semiarid conditions. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The use of rootstocks in table grape cultivation has become a common practice among viticulturists worldwide, mainly because rootstocks provide means for cultivation under unfavourable soil conditions, including the presence of nematodes and pests, high salinity or active lime, among others (Dry, 2007; Meggio et al., 2014; Walker et al., 2014). Most of the vineyards over the world are grafted on commercial rootstocks, which are hybrids of three species: Vitis berlandieri, V. riparia, or V. rupestris that were devel- oped before 1930 from American Vitis species in an effort to control phylloxera damage (Serra et al., 2013; Berdeja et al., 2015), which devastated the European vineyards in the last half of the 19th cen- tury (Whiting, 2012). Nowadays, a large rootstock selection is commercially available, which allows growers to choose those more adequate for their site ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: fralbornoz@uc.cl (F. Albornoz). conditions with the purpose of obtaining good yield and quality products (Dry, 2007). However, rootstock evaluations are com- monly conducted using one single cultivar as the scion, assessing physiological parameters such as photosynthesis, stomatal conduc- tance or transpiration (During, 1994; Soar et al., 2008; Koundouras et al., 2008); plant nutritional aspects (Williams and Smith, 1991; Garcia et al., 2001; Ibacache and Sierra, 2009); or plant biomass production, measured as growth rate (Jones et al., 2009; Tandonnet et al., 2010). The limitation for rootstock recommendations based on these studies is that significant interactions exist between differ- ent scion-rootstock genotype combinations, therefore results from single variety studies cannot be generalized to all cases (Serra et al., 2013; Vrˇ siˇ c et al., 2015). Long-term information on rootstock effects over yield and yield components is scarce and the response is primarily associated with the level of vigour conferred to the scion by the rootstock (Dry and Loveys, 1998), which in turns affect bud fruitfulness and vine productivity (Satisha et al., 2010). It is necessary to consider that these effects are highly responsive to the level of soil fertility, which http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2016.03.040 0304-4238/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.