Teleki 8B

History of Origin and Economic Significance

The grape rootstock Berlandieri x Riparia Teleki 8B was isolated by the Hungarian breeder Teleki. The variety was obtained as a result of sowing seeds of the Vitis berlandieri species, which were sent by the researcher Resseguier from the Eastern Pyrenees. As viticulturists believe, these seeds were formed as a result of natural pollination of Berlandieri flowers by Vitis riparia pollen. From a large mass of the obtained seedlings, Teleki grouped the forms that were closest in morphology to the parental species Berlandieri and assigned breeding numbers to the variety groups, among which the Teleki 8B rootstock was fixed. By its biological nature, this grape rootstock represents a heterogeneous population of biotypes, which provides breeders with a basis for conducting further individual selection and isolating new clonal forms.

The Teleki 8B variety penetrated into the territory of the Ukrainian SSR and the Moldavian SSR simultaneously with the import of planting material batches of the related Kober 5BB rootstock. Due to high morphological similarity, commercial plantations of this rootstock in most cases are not true-to-type and include a significant mixture of Kober 5BB vines. According to the 1960 census data, about 313 thousand vines of the Teleki 8B rootstock were registered in Moldova (which amounted to 1.8% of the total rootstock fund of the republic), but in fact, these plantings predominantly consisted of Kober 5BB plants. A similar situation with the variety purity of mother plantations was noted in Ukraine. In the Georgian SSR, the grape rootstock Teleki 8B did not receive industrial recognition and is grown exclusively in ampelographic collections, since in terms of vine growth vigor and cane productivity it is noticeably inferior to the Kober 5BB variety and does not deserve economic attention in these ecological conditions.

In grafted culture, the rootstock variety Berlandieri x Riparia Teleki 8B has a similar agrobiological significance to the Kober 5BB rootstock, ensuring strong development of scions. However, a significant biological disadvantage that seriously limits its economic value in Ukraine and Moldova is the extremely high susceptibility of the cane to necrosis damage. For this reason, new commercial plantings of the Teleki 8B rootstock in these regions have been completely discontinued, and the variety has moved into the category of secondary ones, yielding positions to more resistant rootstock forms.

Morphological Description of the Rootstock Variety Berlandieri x Riparia Teleki 8B

Botanical traits and morphological features of the plant organs were studied and recorded in detail in the variety testing plots of the Moldavian Research Institute of Horticulture, Viticulture, and Winemaking:

• Young shoot (tip): the growing apex of the shoot and young leaves have a distinct reddish tint and bear intensive pubescence. The key variety distinction of Teleki 8B from Kober 5BB is that the young shoots are very densely covered with short bristly pubescence, thanks to which they have a characteristic velvety surface.
• Mature leaf: characterized by large sizes, dense texture, and a rounded-wedge-shaped form. The leaf blade is almost entire, with weakly expressed lobes. The general shade of the leaf blade is less dark compared to Kober 5BB. The leaf veins and petiole have an intensive reddish coloration.
• Teeth and petiole sinus: the marginal teeth of the leaf are large, wide-triangular, balanced in width, inclined, almost dome-shaped. The petiole sinus is open.
• Mature shoot: the annual cane is characterized by strong growth, a straight direction, and long internodes. The surface of the mature shoot is colored in relatively light grayish-brown tones with a clear reddish tint. An anatomical feature of the variety is the loose structure of the wood and a highly developed, large pith. The lateral shoots (suckers) formation capacity of the vines is weakly expressed.
• Reproductive organs: the flower type is functionally male. The pistil is very weakly developed; 5–6 normally developed stamens are formed in the flower, which are raised vertically upwards. The inflorescences have a conical shape; they are more compact in structure than in the Kober 5BB variety. After the completion of the flowering phase, the inflorescences drop completely, and the Teleki 8B variety does not form berries.

Features of Agricultural Practices in Nursery Production

Analysis of ecological plasticity shows that the grape rootstock Berlandieri x Riparia Teleki 8B is more moisture-loving and less demanding to the total heat reserves than Kober 5BB. The calendar dates for the beginning of the main vegetation phases (bud break, shoot growth) almost completely coincide with the indicators of Kober 5BB, but the flowering phase in Teleki 8B occurs 1–2 days earlier. The Teleki 8B variety does not show strict demands to soil types, but demonstrates the best results when grown on fertile, loose, and sufficiently moistened land plots. The frost resistance of the root system of this rootstock is assessed as satisfactory; it slightly exceeds the resistance of Kober 5BB roots. Indicators of resistance to carbonates are also at a high level — the variety tolerates a slightly higher lime content in the soil than Kober 5BB.

In nursery conditions, the rootstock variety Berlandieri x Riparia Teleki 8B ensures a high yield of rootstock material. The average gross harvest of cuttings from one hectare of a mother plantation keeps at the same level with the indicators of the industrial standard Kober 5BB under optimal agricultural practices. It has been established that the Teleki 8B variety develops better, and its annual shoots achieve higher quality and more uniform lignification when using vertical trellis supports. On horizontal supports or in ground-trailing culture, the uniformity of wood ripening decreases significantly.

Technological characteristics of cuttings during rooting and grafting have specific features. The cutting material of Teleki 8B possesses a good rooting capacity and high callus formation activity. In the process of performing bench grafting, the cuttings of this rootstock form callus in the union zone with the scion very quickly, and in some cases even excessively strongly. Nevertheless, due to the high vulnerability of the cane to necrotic diseases and the non-uniformity of shoot lignification, the total yield of standard first-grade grafted plants from the nursery field in Teleki 8B regularly turns out to be lower than in similar combinations on the Kober 5BB rootstock.

*Publisher's note: the ampelographic overview is compiled based on the variety description from the book "Ampelography of the USSR. Little-distributed grape varieties", Volume III, published in 1966. The text has been processed and edited only in terms of formatting, while, for the sake of preserving the authenticity of historically valuable material, the formulations and style of description inherent in the Soviet ampelographic school were not changed.