Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Scientia Horticulturae journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scihorti Evaluation the effect of rootstocks on postharvest berries quality of ‘Flame Seedless’ grapes A.A. Lo’ay a, ⁎ ,1 , A.Y. El-khateeb b a Department of Pomology of Agriculture College, Mansoura University, 35516, El-Mansoura, Egypt b Department of Chemistry of Agriculture College, Mansoura University, 35516, El-Mansoura, Egypt ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Flame seedless Rootstocks Shelf life Fruit quality ABSTRACT ‘Flame Seedless’ (Vitis vinifera L.) is one of the most valuable grape cultivars in Egypt. Also, it is one of the earliest ripening red seedless cultivars which appeared in the Egyptian market. The current investigation was conducted during the two season 2013 and 2014 on 8 years old vines in the commercial orchard when soil was sandy. Vines were grafted on four rootstocks Freedom, Ruggeri, Paulson and Flame Seedless. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different rootstocks on fruit quality attributes during shelf-life. The Paulson rootstock presented highly marketable under Egyptian conditions compared with other rootstocks as to physical and chemical quality characteristics. As the main conclusion, graft Flame Seedless vines onto Paulson rootstock to improved fruit quality and also to enhance economic crop in Egyptian market 1. Introduction Grape is an old deciduous fruit crop, widespread and highly valuable horticultural vine among the most important crops in the world. Flame Seedless as a promising grapevine cultivar which grown good under Egyptian conditions especially in newly reclaimed areas (El- Gendy, 2013). Flame seedless is the earliest ripening red seedless cultivar. Under high temperature, it tends to develop within sufficient color which is an important quality attribute as a visual acceptability at harvest time for customers (Strydom, 2014). Rootstocks play very important roles in cultivation feature such as: improving or reducing yield (Jogaiah et al., 2013), also protecting crops against phylloxera and nematode (Köse et al., 2014). Overcoming water and salinity stress in newly reclaimed areas in north and middle of Egypt (El-Gendy, 2013). Adaptability to high and low pH, wet or poorly drained soils and drought (Köse et al., 2014). Moreover, rootstocks affect vine growth, yield, and clusters quality through the interaction between the environmental factors and the physiology of scions and rootstock cultivars as mentioned by (El-Gendy, 2013). Rootstocks Paulsen (V. Berlandieri X V. rupestris), Ruggeri (V. Berlan dieri X V. rupestris) and Freedom (1613C X V. champini) used as rootstocks in reclaimed lands and evaluated previously (Wolpert et al., 1994). In this respect, Freedom is more resistant to phylloxera, nematode and drought stress (El-Gendy, 2013). Paulsen rootstock is vigor and also resistant to phylloxera and it good for clay and lime soil. It is moderate to salt tolerance and moderate to high drought tolerance. Finally, Ruggeri is resistance to phylloxera high too and is very high vigor plant. Also, it is highly drought and moderate salt tolerance(Wolpert et al., 1994). Although, many researchers studied the evaluation rootstocks effects on scions growth but they did not figure out the effects of rootstocks on fruits behavior during handling in market or shelf-life. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of grafting Flame seedless grapevines on four rootstocks (Flame seedless on own roots, Paulsen, Ruggeri, and Freedom) on berry qualities during shelf-life. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Plant material and experimental design The present study was performed during 2013–2014 seasons on 8 years old Flame seedless cv. grafted on different rootstocks such as Freedom, Ruggeri, and Paulsen compared with Flame seedless on the own root (control) in a commercial orchard near Monufia Gov. Egypt. Vines planted at 2 × 3 m in sandy soil under drip irrigation system. The sample was picked when the soluble solid content in berry juice at 16% in average. Upon arrival in pomology Department, the 240 fruit clusters were divided into two batches. The one contents 120 clusters for nondestructive measurements (water loss percentage, rachis browning index and berry shatter percentage). Thereafter, samples were divided into four group, 30 clusters per only each rootstock, were distributed in http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2017.04.006 Received 14 February 2017; Received in revised form 4 April 2017; Accepted 5 April 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. 1 www.mans.edu.eg. E-mail address: loay_Arafat@mans.edu.eg (A.A. Lo’ay). Scientia Horticulturae 220 (2017) 299–302 0304-4238/ © 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V. MARK