Itasca Grapevine Cultivar Cold Hardiness and Disease Resistance

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current grape cultivars lack adequate cold hardiness and disease resistance, particularly in cool summer and cold winter climates, and often have high acidity levels and susceptibility to pests like phylloxera, limiting their adaptability and wine quality.

Innovation Solution

The development of the Vitis spp. hybrid cultivar 'Itasca', which combines cold hardiness, moderate disease resistance, and balanced sugar and acidity levels, achieved through asexual propagation of hardwood stem cuttings, resulting in a unique cultivar suitable for cool climates and high-quality white wine production.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If conventional grape cultivars are used in cool climates, then they can be grown, but they lack adequate cold hardiness and disease resistance

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecold hardiness and disease resistanceVSAvoidadaptability to cool climates

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies hybridization to combine desirable traits from different grapevine species and cultivars. The new cultivar 'Itasca' is a hybrid that combines cold hardiness from one parent with disease resistance from another, creating a composite genetic structure that exhibits both traits simultaneously. This resolves the contradiction by integrating multiple beneficial characteristics into a single cultivar that is both reliable and adaptable to cool climates.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #40Composite materials

2Reliability

If grape cultivars with high acidity levels are used, then wine quality can be achieved, but the cultivars have limited adaptability and susceptibility to pests

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvewine qualityVSAvoidsusceptibility to pests like phylloxera

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent utilizes the natural resistance traits present in certain grapevine species and converts them into beneficial disease and pest resistance in the new cultivar. By selecting parent plants with inherent resistance to phylloxera and other pests, the hybridization process transforms these natural defenses into a protective advantage for the new cultivar, allowing it to maintain wine quality while being resistant to harmful factors.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #22Blessing in disguise (Convert harm into benefit)

3Temperature

If grape cultivars are bred for cold hardiness, then they can survive cold winters, but they often have high acidity levels that limit wine quality

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecold hardinessVSAvoidwine quality

Core Design Contradiction:

TemperatureVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies selective breeding to achieve local optimization of traits. The new cultivar 'Itasca' has been bred to have moderate acidity levels in specific growing regions with cool summers and cold winters. By selecting for this local adaptation, the cultivar maintains cold hardiness while achieving balanced acidity suitable for quality wine production, rather than uniformly high acidity across all conditions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUSPP29847P2Grapevine plant named ‘Itasca’

Publication Date: 2018.11.20 REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

AI summary

The invention is a new and distinct variety of grapevine plant named ‘Itasca’, which is characterized by its adaptibility to grow in cold climates for grape production, its cold hardiness to at least U.S.D.A. Zone 4, its fruits that are suitable for making white wine, its fruit with moderately low total acidity levels combined with high sugar levels at maturity, and its high resistance to downy mildew and black rot diseases and moderate resistance to powdery mildew and foliar infestation by the insect pest phylloxera.