Overview

I specialize in the development of new wine and table grape varieties, as well as new grape breeding techniques. Since joining the Cornell faculty in 1980, my program has released eleven new grape varieties - eight wine grapes (cooperatively with the Dept. of Food Science and Technology) and three seedless table grapes. The grape breeding program continues to emphasize wine variety development with a strong emphasis on combining wine quality with disease resistance and cold tolerance. We develop flavorful, attractive table grapes, as well. We complement the traditional breeding program with experimental approaches to develop complete maps of grapevine chromosomes, and to study functional gene expression. In addition to my research responsibilities, I was Chair for over 10 years of the Grape Crop Germplasm Committee, a national committee overseeing U.S. Department of Agriculture efforts to preserve wild and cultivate grapevines. My studies have taken me to international conferences, research stations and the grape growing regions of France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Israel, Hungary, Turkey, Thailand, Switzerland, China and Japan. My laboratory has hosted graduate students and researchers from many parts of the world, including Japan, Chile, Brazil, Pakistan, France, South Africa, Germany, Hungary, Korea, Israel and China. I currently co-teach a portion of the Grapevine Biology course focusing on grapevine breeding and genetics.

Research Focus

Program objectives focus on the genetic improvement of grapevines while integrating traditional and novel techniques. In the traditional portion of the project, interspecific hybridization is used to select wine grapes with cold hardiness, disease resistance and high wine quality. Our 1996 release, 'Traminette', a cold-hardy, disease resistant white wine grape producing a wine reminiscent of Gewürztraminer, has been extremely well received by the premium wine industry. ‘GR 7’, a 2003 release, is already in commercial use as a blending base for red wines by a number of wineries east of the Rockies. Three new wine grapes were released for use in 2006 and are quickly being adopted by the eastern grape industry. Also, table grapes with pleasing flavors, cold hardiness, seedlessness, storage potential, and large berry and cluster size are under development. Disease resistance is a high priority objective. Our best accessions, usually derived from native American species, are used as parents to impart high levels of disease resistance. Promising selections are tested across New York State and with University cooperators across the United States. Novel techniques in plant breeding are also being studied for potential contributions to grapevine improvement. These studies currently focus on an assortment DNA techniques to place molecular markers on genetic linkage maps in Vitis. Our present efforts focus on use of these maps for marker-assisted selection. A large mapping population is being used to study the genetics of trichome development, in relation to making grapevines more suitable hosts for mites used in biological control efforts. Further efforts are to map an assortment of traits related to fruit quality, cold hardiness and disease resistance, and apply marker-assisted selection directly to the ongoing breeding program.

Outreach and Extension Focus

Extension is a small but highly important position responsibility. The wine and grape industries rely on me as a source for information not only on the new cultivars developed in my program, but also on the full range of wine and table grape cultivars available on today`s market. Our approach is to supply test selections and cultivars to researchers in many states; gather information on cultivars and selections in trials at Geneva, Fredonia, Pennsylvania, and Niagara County; and to present information at public meetings, workshops, and on our program web site.

Teaching Focus

I team-teach a course in Grapevine Biology, focusing my lectures on the field of grape breeding, genetics, and germplasm conservation.

Additional Links

• Portal for Grapevine Breeding and Genetics Program
• Faculty Information Page - Bruce Reisch
• Link to CALS Research and Impact
• Link to Research & Expertise Across Cornell

Awards and Honors

• Outstanding Career Accomplishments in Applied Research (2011) College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University

Selected Publications

Journal Publications

• Cadle-Davidson, L., Mahanil, S., Gadoury, D. M., Kozma, P., & Reisch, B. I. (2011). Natural infection of Run1-positive vines by naïve genotypes of Erysiphe necator. VITIS. 50:173-175.
• Rosenfield, C., Samuelian, S., Vidal, J. R., & Reisch, B. I. (2010). Transgenic Disease Resistance in Vitis vinifera: Potential Use and Screening of Antimicrobial Peptides. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture. 61:348-357.
• Kikkert , J. R., Vidal, J., Wallace, P. G., Garcia-Zitter, S., Wilcox, W. F., Gadoury, D. M., Seem, R. C., Rosenfield, C., Burr, T. J., Samuelian, S., & Reisch, B. I. (2009). Disease resistance analyses of transgenic grapevines that contain endochitinase or antimicrobial peptide genes. . Acta Horticulturae. 827:379-384.

Book Chapters

• Reisch, B. I., Owens, C. L., & Cousins, P. S. (2012). Grapes. p. 225-262 Handbook of Plant Breeding: Fruit Breeding. M.L. Badenes and D.H. Byrne (ed.), Springer,

Presentations and Activities

• Breeding Hybrid Wine Grapes at Cornell and the Integration of Markers for Disease Resistance. April 2011. Fondazione Edmund Mach, Instituto Agrario. San Michele Al'Adige, Trentino, Italy.
• A brief history of grapevine breeding in New York. August 2010. Smith Opera House, Geneva, NY.
• Grape Breeding at Geneva; The First 125 Years. February 2010. Plant Breeding department, Cornell University. Ithaca, NY.

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