Dobrinya

Origin and economic importance

The rootstock variety Dobrynya traces its origins back to the Soviet period of Ukrainian history. The crossbreeding of the parental forms was performed by scientists in the USSR in the distant year of 1969 at the Tairov Institute of Viticulture and Winemaking. The variety resulted from the interspecific hybridization of the European grapevine Cabernet Sauvignon with the American species Rupestris du Lot. Following long-term variety trials, in 2007, the rootstock was entered into the State Register of Plant Varieties of Ukraine, becoming the first registered and patented rootstock of Ukrainian selection created on the scientific foundation of the Soviet era.

The variety Dobrynya is characterized by high adaptive capacities and biological resistance to the main limiting environmental factors under the conditions of the Northern Black Sea region. The rootstock exhibits high resistance to fungal diseases, as well as to the root form of phylloxera, which allows its utilization for establishing long-lived commercial vineyards in steppe viticultural zones.

When grafted, the Dobrynya rootstock demonstrates a high degree of affinity with European grapevine varieties. Combinations based on it develop a high shoot vigor. During studies of scion-rootstock combinations, it was established that the table grape variety Muskat zhemchuzhny grafted onto this rootstock demonstrated a significant increase in average cluster weight and overall harvest commercial quality attributes compared to similar combinations on other widespread rootstocks.

Ampelographic description of the rootstock variety Dobrynya

The identification of the Dobrynya rootstock is based on the following agrobiological and ampelographic characteristics:

• Vine: Characterized by a high shoot growth vigor, it forms well-developed vines with a large assimilation leaf surface area.
• Adult leaf: Adult leaves are large, which is determined by the genetic origin from large-leaved parental forms. The leaf apparatus ensures the formation of a powerful photosynthetic surface of the vine.
• Shoots: The average shoot length over the years of observation was 318 cm, with an average diameter of 7.1 mm in the middle section. By growth habit, the shoots are semi-spreading or erect, which ensures high technological efficiency of the variety. A weak lateral-producing capacity of the vine is noted: on average, up to 3.2 lateral shoots form per main shoot, with an average length of about 59.6 cm. The laterals are thin and show poor wood maturity. By the end of the vegetative period, the variety demonstrates a very high degree of wood maturity, reaching 93%.

Nursery management attributes

The rootstock variety Dobrynya is highly technological in nursery management due to the erect growth habit of the shoots and the low formation of water sprouts and lateral shoots, which significantly facilitates maintenance operations in mother vineyards. Under non-irrigated cultivation conditions with a planting scheme of 3 × 1.5 m, the yield of mother vines ensures a stable output of standard cuttings at a level of up to 60 thousand pieces per hectare. Collected wood is characterized by an optimal internode length. Cuttings possess a good regenerative capacity and high rooting ability — during research, independent cutting rooting rates (without the use of growth regulators) reached 80.6%. In the process of bench and field grafting, the variety ensures a high output of standard planting material.