Correlation of Resistance to Physical Stress With Fruit Structure in the Grape Vitis Vinifera L.

The internal pressure required to cause splitting has been determined for fruit of nine cultivars of Vitis vinifeva and related to geometrical and strucrural attributes. The integrated cell-wall content of the dermal system or skin accounted for 56% of the variance of the pressure required to cause splitting of 50% of fruit. No other measured factor was found to be correlated statistically with resistance of grapes to splitting. Nevertheless, it is considered that no single character determines stress resistance but that this is achieved by a combination of geometric, structural and physiological factors.