Evaluating of Wine Grapes Phenology by Using Different Climatic Indices, Grown in Black Sea Region, Turkey

Abstract

Anatolia is one of the most important main gene centers of V. vinifera grapes in the world. Although The Black Sea Region has a fairly wide geographic area in Turkey, the European grapes are the least grown in this region except for V. labrusca grapes. Because of the having heavy rainfall in both spring and autumn of the region, when combined with insufficient sunshine during the vegetation period, V. vinifera cultivars are not be grown economically in this humid northern area. Samsun city is settled in the Black Sea region, and has two important agricultural plains. Although Samsun settled in this humid region, it has the least rainfall compared to other coastal provinces towards the Eastern Black Sea Region. In this study, the adaptation of some wine grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) in Samsun conditions is evaluated by examining the phenology and ripening characteristics of 'Merlot', 'Cabernet Sauvignon', 'Syrah', 'Ugni Blanc', 'Kalecik Karasi', 'Muscat' and 'Chardonnay'grapes from 2014 to 2016. Some different climatic indices were used to assess the potential of wine grape cultivars grown in this region. In the study, grapes were evaluated whether will grow or not suitable in this location by using Winkler Index (WI), Huglin Index (HI), Branas Heliothermic Index (BHI), and Hydrothermic Index (Hyl). When the climatic indices evaluated according to long term climate records; Huglin index 1983; Winkler index 1848; Branas Hyl 3991, and Heliothermic index were found as 3.5 C-o. According to average values of 2014, 2015, and 2016 years; the Huglin index 2290; Winkler index 2132; Branas Hyl index 5198, and Heliothermic index was determined as 3.8 C-o. The phenological investigations and the evaluated climatic records showed that the research area is very favorable to grow wine grapes. According to Hyl results, moderate fungal disease risk might be considered for the central coastal area of the Samsun region.