Article

All the traditional vines, constituting the subspecies Vitis vinifera subsp. vinifera, were domesticated from the wild V. vinifera subsp. silvestris. Shape and morphometry of the seed provides information to differentiate between wild and cultivated vine populations. Measurements were made on grape seeds for the assessment of genetic diversity and for the discrimination between the two subspecies according to the Stummer index. Morphometric analysis was carried out on 340 seeds from 34 ecotypes (22 wild and 12 cultivated) originated from the north of Tunisia. In the wild vine population, seed length (L) varied between 3.2 and 5.2 mm, beak length (LS) between 0.4 and 1.7 mm and breadth (B) between 1.7 and 3.2 mm. The Stummer index (SI) was comprised between 51.43 and 88.57. Among the twenty-two wild ecotypes, seven confirmed their belonging to the spontaneous morphotype and four had 95% chance to belong to the cultivated morphotype (EC.30, EC.33, CPN5-2000 and CPN6-2000). In the cultivated vine pool, seed length ranged from 3.8 to 5.2 mm, stalk length from 0.8 to 1.4 mm and the total width from 2.3 to 3.2 mm. The Stummer index varied between 56.10 and 65.00. Among the twelve cultivars, five confirmed their belonging to the cultivated morphotype and three showed 95% chance to belong to the spontaneous type (Bidh El Hmem, Chaaraoui and Meski Rafraf). The results allowed us to relate a probable genetic proximity between spontaneous and some cultivated vines and to retrace the evolution pathway of local vine gene pool.