NEW INTRODUCED GRAPEVINE CULTIVAR TICKLED PINK

This article presents the varietal study and evaluation of a new introduced grapevine variety Tickled Pink of the USA breeding, obtained as part of the Breeding Program of the University of Arkansas in the conditions of ARRIV&W – Branch of the FSBSI FRARC. An ampelographic description of the variety was made according to the main characteristics. This grapevine cultivar can be distinguished by its seedless berries, similar to Vitis labrusca L. morphological features and taste of berries, small compact clusters, wedge-shaped leaves, medium vigor, and disease and cold-hardiness. The vineyards are not watered, grafted, not covered, the two-armed middle-trunk cordon bush shape, the planting scheme is 3×1.5 m, the pruning is short. Methods generally accepted in viticulture and standard vineyard cultivation technology were used. According to our data, the Tickled Pink variety has an super-early terms of grape ripening (105 days from bud break to full ripeness of berries), small bunches with an average weight of 90.5 g, medium-sized berries with a weight of 2.2 g, seedlessness class II (mass of rudiments 8.7 mg), high resistance to downy mildew, anthracnose and botrytis, medium resistance to powdery mildew. According to the originators, the variety is highly resistant to frost, which we could not confirm due to the lack of critical low temperatures in winter, but it was possible to note the high winter hardiness of the variety. Yield is low, 4.7 t/ha. We believe that the grape cultivar Tickled Pink is not quite suitable for our terroir due to insufficient drought resistance and heat resistance, but it can be recommended for backyard gardening in regions with a cool climate, as well as for use in the breeding of resistant seedless grape varieties.