ISHS Acta Horticulturae 441: V Temperate Zone Fruit in the Tropics and Subtropics
ELECTRONIC IMAGERY: A NEW METHOD FOR GRAPE IDENTIFICATION |
| Authors: | Z. Zaki, M.L. Kchouk, A. Douik, A. Ben Salem, A. Ghorbel, M. Annabi |
| Abstract:
The grape variety Beldi (Vitis vinifera L.) was extensively cultivated before 1900 and gave an excellent white wine (Berger-Levrault et al., 1900) but has been progressively abandoned and replaced by European cultivars. However, it remains agroeconomically important in some traditional orchards, as do many other indigenous grapes. Conservation of fruit genetic resources requires an accurate identification of varieties, using various descriptors. In grapes, ampelographic methods are important in grapevine taxonomy (Galet, 1988), as well as in varietal identification. Local and indigenous varieties are threatened with extinction and difficult to find, since only a few individuals remain. Moreover, classical ampelography often gives erroneous conclusions about varietal names, homonyms, and synonyms, i.e. different varieties have the same name or the same cultivar has different names. Standard techniques of varietal identification are based on the measurement of biometric (ampelometric) characters of leaves and/or bunches, and are therefore extremely subjective and time-consuming. Computer-aided survey systems were developed to overcome problems of synonymy and homonymy (Costacurta et al., 1992). However, these procedures are semi-automatic and still require the involvement of the manipulator, since they use the mouse click to point out the grape leaf characteristics on the computer screen. A completely automatic methodology is reported herein for the identification of grapes using a Digital Image Processing (DIP) software applied to leaves. The Tunisian variety Beldi was chosen as a model for indigenous grapes. | |
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