Current status, existing problems and sustainable development strategies of the grape industry in Shandong Province
Current status, problems and sustainable development measures of the grape industry in Shandong Province
Fund project: Youth Scientific Research Fund of Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (2016YQN36); Special Fund of the National Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System (CARS-29-15); Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Project of Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CXGC2016D01); Major Agricultural Applied Technology Innovation Project of Shandong Province.
Grapes have strong adaptability and are distributed throughout all regions of Shandong Province. By the end of 2015, the grape cultivation area in Shandong Province ranked third in the country, with a yield of 42,500 hm2 and a cultivation area of 1.216 million t, of which the wine grape cultivation area was about 19,400 hm2, and wine production reached 392 million L, accounting for about 33.8% of the national total, both ranking first in the country.
The table grape variety with the largest cultivation area in Shandong Province is "Kyoho", with an area of about 7,300 hm2; the second main cultivar is "Red Globe", with an area of about 4,300 hm2; the third main cultivar is "Muscat Hamburg", with an area of about 4,300 hm2; other cultivars include "Zexiang", "Ruby Seedless", "Fujiminori", "Crimson Seedless", etc.; the wine grape variety with the largest cultivation area is "Cabernet Sauvignon", with an area of about 4,600 hm2; other cultivars include "Cabernet Gernischt", "Chardonnay", "Italian Riesling", etc.
1 Current status of the grape industry in Shandong Province
1.1 Grape cultivation area is steadily expanding, and advantageous production regions are gradually taking shape. At present, the province has basically formed a pattern of the Jiaodong Peninsula grape and wine advantageous region and the central-southern Shandong table grape advantageous region. Among them, in the Jiaodong Peninsula production region, Yantai City is the main wine grape production area, and Qingdao City is the main table grape production area. The central-southern Shandong table grape production region includes the Taiyi Mountain area dominated by Linyi, Zibo and Tai'an, as well as the old course of the Yellow River plain areas such as Jining, Jinan and Heze.
1.2 Varieties are gradually diversifying, and the structure is becoming increasingly reasonable
With people's demand for product diversification and market price adjustments, the speed of grape variety renewal has gradually accelerated, greatly promoting the development of the grape industry. While table varieties are still dominated by mid-season varieties such as "Kyoho" and "Muscat Hamburg", the proportion of early- and late-maturing varieties has increased year by year. Early-maturing varieties mainly include "Red Balado", "Summer Black" and "Flame Seedless"; mid-maturing varieties include "Golden Finger", "Jumihong" and "Shine Muscat"; late-maturing varieties include "Wink", "Red Globe", "Crimson Seedless" and "Ruby Seedless". By combining varieties with different ripening periods, both product diversity and the market supply period of fresh fruit are extended. Wine enterprises located in Penglai City on the Jiaodong Peninsula have continuously introduced about 20 characteristic wine grape varieties (such as "Petit Verdot", "Marselan" and "Petit Manseng"), and through trial planting and winemaking they have initially shown good cultivation adaptability and winemaking style characteristics.
1.3 Cultivation patterns are diversified, and protected cultivation is developing rapidly
At present, grape cultivation patterns in the province are not limited to open-field cultivation, and protected grape cultivation is developing rapidly. Protected grapes are mainly distributed in Yantai, Tai'an, Pingdu, Jining, Gaomi, Shouguang, Liaocheng and other places. Through protected cultivation, not only has the grape cultivation area been expanded, but the grape supply period has also been extended, the ability to prevent and mitigate natural disasters has been improved, and the economic benefits of grape cultivation have been significantly increased.
1.4 Urban leisure and sightseeing agriculture are developing rapidly, and cultural tourism projects themed on grapes are gradually increasing
The Qingdao Dazeshan Grape Festival takes "culture as the stage and economy as the performance" as its theme. While fully promoting the Dazeshan grape brand, it has also strongly promoted the development of local tourism and the economy. Rencheng District of Jining City organically combines grape culture with canal culture and has established a "ten-thousand-mu" grape picking and sightseeing garden, becoming one of the agricultural tourism demonstration sites in Shandong Province. Cultural tourism featuring wineries, such as the Changyu Wine Culture Museum, Changyu Castel Chateau, Junding Winery and Qingdao China International Wine Street, has become a premium tourism route in Shandong, and an important channel for understanding wine culture, promoting the development of the wine industry and stimulating consumption.
2 Main problems existing in the development of the grape industry in Shandong Province
2.1 Single main cultivars, few regional varieties
So far, table grape varieties in Shandong Province are still dominated by mid-maturing varieties such as "Kyoho", "Fujiminori" and "Muscat Hamburg", while early- and late-maturing varieties are relatively few. Wine grape varieties are mainly "Cabernet Sauvignon", "Cabernet Gernischt" and "Chardonnay", and are mainly foreign varieties, with a low degree of selection and promotion of self-owned varieties. Grape varieties are too single, sales pressure is high, and price advantages are not obvious. In recent years, although different regions and research institutions have gradually introduced some new varieties, overall the speed of variety renewal is still relatively slow, supporting cultivation and management techniques are incomplete, and demonstration and promotion effects are not obvious. Due to the lack of scientific guidance, fruit growers are somewhat blind in variety selection, often leading to disorderly development in which everyone rushes in at once, resulting in overly single varieties and an unreasonable variety structure, and failure due to blind development.
2.2 Insufficient refinement in cultivation management, low degree of fruit commercialization
The degree of organization in the grape industry is low. In particular, table grape planting is still mainly individual household management, and grape planting areas are small and scattered. Moreover, limited by growers' knowledge level and cognitive ability, the technical level of the grape industry is relatively low, product quality is uneven, the degree of mechanization and intensification is low, and labor costs remain high.
There is a lack of standardized trellis systems and leaf canopy shapes, and trellises are aging. At present, table grapes are mainly based on multi-main-cane fan shapes, and the leaf canopy shape is generally upright, with pruning and training disorganized; management involves heavy irrigation and heavy fertilization, one-sided pursuit of yield, and a lack of precise water and fertilizer management techniques, with flood irrigation and excessive fertilizer leading to high yield but low quality; there is a lack of comprehensive pest and disease prevention and control techniques, with emphasis on treatment and neglect of prevention, leading to a great increase in the number and dosage of pesticide applications; there is a lack of stress-resistant cultivation techniques, and the ability to respond to sudden disasters is weak; in order to pursue large berries and good color, plant growth regulators and other products are used arbitrarily, among a series of other problems.
2.3 Production costs continue to increase, and benefits decline year by year
The level of mechanization in grape planting is low, labor costs continue to increase, and coupled with the year-by-year rise in the prices of agricultural materials such as pesticides, fertilizers and fruit bags, as well as the impact of unfavorable factors such as frequent ecological disasters, grape planting costs have increased year by year. In recent years, grape purchase prices have generally been low, especially for wine grapes, and grape planting benefits have declined significantly. Compared with other fruit trees, growers feel that it is labor-intensive and time-consuming, with lower income and lower enthusiasm for development, and in some places people have begun to cut down vines and switch to other cash crops.
2.4 Vineyard nursery stock production is not standardized, and the breeding system is unsound
The production and management of grape nursery stock lack strong supervision, plant quarantine exists in name only, and nursery stock quality is uneven. In particular, the production of virus-free improved varieties with pure varietal identity is far from meeting the needs of production development; there is no dedicated scion orchard for nursery stock propagation, and propagation material is cut from cultivation vineyards, leading to wide-scale spread of viral diseases and pests and making prevention difficult; most vineyards are established with own-rooted vines, which have shallow root systems and poor resistance, making it difficult to withstand increasingly severe biotic and abiotic stresses; the construction of the grape nursery stock propagation system lags behind, and the order of nursery stock production and sales is chaotic.
2.5 Insufficient investment in basic industry research, unable to meet the needs of industry development
At present, the province has not yet carried out systematic research on grape variety cultivation zoning, and cannot achieve zoning positioning for grape planting across the province, nor provide scientific and reasonable decision-making basis for the vast number of grape planting enterprises or individuals. Scientific and technological investment is insufficient, and grape professional technical talent is lacking. With the development of the industry and the expansion of scale, improved varieties, cultivation techniques and the level of technical talent all cannot meet the needs of industry development.
3 Exploration of the path for replacing old growth drivers with new ones in the grape industry of Shandong Province
Shandong Province is an advantageous production region for grape cultivation in China, with a long cultivation history. How to continue to maintain the province's advantageous position in grape cultivation during the period of replacing old growth drivers with new ones requires accelerating supply-side structural reform on the basis of combining the characteristics of grape cultivation in Shandong Province, so as to achieve healthy, rapid and sustainable development of the grape industry.
3.1 Increase scientific and technological investment to provide scientific and technological support and intellectual support for the transformation and upgrading of the grape industry
3.1.1 Improve the level of conservation and utilization of germplasm resources, and accelerate the selection and breeding of self-owned varieties
In view of the reality that Shandong Province has scarce grape germplasm resources, lacks abundant grape breeding materials suitable for local climatic conditions, and lags behind in grape breeding work. Introduce excellent grape varieties, wild species and breeding materials from home and abroad, especially locally self-bred varieties as well as resistant varieties and rootstocks, and establish a grape germplasm resource nursery. Use modern biotechnology methods to carry out research on the genetic diversity of germplasm resources and establish a technical system for clonal selection of resistant materials; through clonal selection, cross breeding, bud mutation selection and other methods, select and breed excellent new grape varieties (lines) with excellent quality, strong resistance, good flavor and suitability for local characteristics.
3.1.2 Increase scientific and technological investment, establish an industry-university-research alliance, and focus on solving
key common technical problems constraining the development of the grape industry. Carry out research on high-quality virus-free nursery stock propagation systems and techniques, and increase the capacity for expanding and propagating virus-free nursery stock; strengthen research on and utilization of rootstock varieties, use the strong resistance advantages of rootstock varieties to improve the stress resistance of cultivated varieties, especially rootstocks with cold resistance, salinity-alkali resistance and resistance to grape phylloxera, and screen suitable scion-rootstock combinations; study vineyard soil management and efficient fertilizer utilization techniques, and carry out vineyard soil improvement and precise fertilization; integrate physical and biological control techniques and demonstrate integrated pest and disease prevention and control techniques for grapes; carry out research on the selection of grape trellises and trellis shapes suitable for vine-burying cold-protection regions and supporting simplified pruning techniques, and determine high-photosynthetic-efficiency, labor-saving tree shapes, leaf canopy shapes and flower and fruit management technical plans for vine-burying cold-protection regions; carry out research on typical flavor characteristic substances of local grapes and wines; explore the metabolic pathways of wine fermentation substrates, optimize quality regulation techniques, and develop distinctive new products; screen native aroma-producing yeasts with excellent winemaking characteristics; study the quality change patterns of grapes during cold storage and preservation, and build a preservation technology system. Around all links of grape and wine production, innovate organizational methods, establish an industry innovation and training alliance combining industry, universities and research, integrate existing resource platforms, provide necessary financial support, and continuously carry out innovation and training activities.
3.2 Strengthen government supervision and guidance, and promote the sustainable and healthy development of the grape industry
3.2.1 Optimize variety structure and improve fruit quality
Government departments at all levels should strengthen guidance and adjust the industrial layout so that it tends more toward efficient grape cultivation areas; optimize the variety structure, and for table varieties increase the introduction of some early- and late-maturing varieties, further extending the market supply period of fresh fruit through the combination of varieties with different ripening periods. At present, early-maturing varieties with good performance include "Guifei Rose", "Hongshuangwei", "Red Balado", "Zaoxia Rose", "Summer Black" and "Himrod"; late-maturing varieties include "Wink", "Christmas Rose", "Moldova" and "Ruby Seedless". For wine varieties, it is necessary to introduce and expand planting of new varieties with different characteristics and capable of producing different wine types, such as "Petit Verdot", "Marselan" and "Petit Manseng", to increase product types.
Guifei Rose
Christmas Rose grape
Shine Muscat grape
3.2.2 Rectify the nursery stock market and establish a high-quality nursery stock propagation system
It is necessary to vigorously rectify the nursery stock market. In response to the chaotic phenomenon in the nursery stock market, corresponding policy measures should be issued as soon as possible, industry standards for nursery stock production should be formulated, nursery stock production should be standardized, and the nursery stock market environment should be improved; support a group of well-qualified nursery stock enterprises to carry out standardized nursery stock propagation and promotion, and provide the industry with sufficient high-quality nursery stock; severely crack down on the behavior of passing off inferior goods as good ones and selling fake or inferior nursery stock; establish nursery stock production and sales files and establish a traceability mechanism. Establish a provincial-level grape improved variety nursery stock and rootstock propagation center, introduce virus-free resistant rootstocks and varieties, and establish a virus-free nursery stock scion orchard; establish a grape virus detection center, and strengthen research and development of the virus-free nursery stock system and the selection and propagation of resistant rootstocks.
3.2.3 Improve the macro-management and supervision system, and create a good macro environment for the wine industry
Government competent departments and industry associations should formulate as soon as possible grape production, product quality and product export quality standards that conform to China's national conditions and are in line with international standards, and strengthen supervision, inspection and management according to law, so that there are rules to follow in a series of grape production processes including nursery stock production, regional planting, yield control, pesticide use, product quality and commodity packaging, so that China's grape production truly achieves standardization and normalization.
3.3 Improve cultivation management models and raise the level of planting management
3.3.1 Improve cultivation management models, standardize vineyard establishment, and adopt labor-saving cultivation
Change the original cultivation management model, promote a high-quality, safe and efficient standardized production technology system, and promote standardized cultivation techniques suitable for different regions and with strong operability. While strengthening the selection, breeding and promotion of new varieties, it is necessary to strengthen the research and development of supporting techniques to achieve an organic combination of improved varieties and improved methods. In vine-burying cold-protection regions, transform the original multi-main-cane fan trellis into an inclined single-trunk single-arm trellis that is easy to lower and bury and labor-saving, raise the fruiting position, and enhance the ventilation and light transmission of the tree body. Increase plant and row spacing, generally with a plant spacing of 1.0-1.5 m and a row spacing of 2.0-2.5 m. In areas with conditions, carry out mechanized operations to reduce labor costs. In some areas where vines do not need to be lowered and buried and in leisure and sightseeing gardens, root-restriction "T"-shaped trellises or "H"-shaped trellises can be adopted. Generally, the plant spacing is 2.0-3.0 m and the row spacing is 5.0-6.0 m, combined with short-cane pruning.
3.3.2 Vigorously develop protected cultivation, raise the level of grape planting, and reduce the incidence of diseases and pests
In response to the problem of excessive rainfall and severe pests and diseases during the grape ripening season in Shandong, rain-shelter cultivation models should be vigorously developed. Generally, simple rain shelters with bamboo and wood structures can be used, generally covering with film at the end of May and beginning of June, and removing the film in mid-October. Rain-shelter cultivation has a very obvious effect on reducing the incidence of pests and diseases, especially an extremely obvious preventive effect on downy mildew. It is necessary to vigorously develop protected cultivation, extend the grape supply period and improve economic benefits by promoting early cultivation of early-maturing varieties and delayed cultivation of late-maturing varieties. At the same time, through protected cultivation, the severity of fungal diseases can be effectively reduced, pesticide use can be reduced, pesticide costs can be saved, environmental pollution can be reduced, fruit quality can be improved, and fruit safety can be ensured.
3.3.3 Vigorously develop urban leisure agriculture and sightseeing agriculture, and cultivate local brands
According to regional cultural characteristics, actively hold various grape-themed picking festivals and tourism sightseeing gardens to drive the development of the grape industry and related industries; actively cultivate local brands, improve visibility, achieve branded sales, and increase product added value.
3.4 Improve business management models, achieve multi-party operation and comprehensive development
First, do a good job in building advantageous industrial belts and advantageous production regions, guide leading enterprises to cluster and develop, form industrial clusters and advantageous industrial belts, and give full play to the demonstration and leading roles of leading enterprises such as Changyu, COFCO and Junding. Second, closely centering on improving the supply capacity of high-quality products, continuously cultivate and strengthen new business entities, promote cooperative operations in multiple forms, and enhance the supply capacity of high-quality products. For table grapes, in addition to providing abundant varieties, more attention should be paid to extending the industrial chain and developing a batch of varieties suitable for juice making and processing; for wine grapes, gradually develop different products such as sweet, semi-sweet, semi-dry and sparkling wines, focus on developing high-grade and medium-grade wines, expand the proportion of high-quality low-price table wines, and change the situation of single wine varieties. Third, actively expand sales markets. Further accelerate the pace of rural e-commerce development, combine e-commerce with physical sales, and further smooth sales channels. Actively promote the application of big data and "Internet+" in the sales links of grapes and wine, strengthen the construction of e-commerce platforms, and build a new production and operation system relying on the Internet.