The Traditional Fruit Tree Collections and the Regional Ampelographic Collection – table grapes and wine will be the stars of the Open Day of the Tavira Agrarian Experimentation Center (CEAT), which takes place on Wednesday, May 27, from 10 am.
These collections, installed at CEAT, are the result of the work developed by the Regional Directorate of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Algarve between 2011 and 2015, within the scope of two projects supported by the Rural Development Program (Proder): the Frutalg Project, entitled «Prospection, Collection, Conservation and Characterization of Traditional Varieties of Algarve Fruit Trees of Interest to Portuguese Agriculture» and the Sulcastas Project, called «Prospecting and Characterizing the Genetic Variability of Varieties of Indigenous Vines in the Alentejo and Algarve Regions».
O Frutalg started in 2011, with the prospection and collection of plant material of citrus, carob, almond, fig, loquat, pomegranate and apple trees (Pero de Monchique), with the subsequent installation of these traditional varieties in the Collections, mostly at CEAT.
These plant materials they will be characterized at a later stage, with a view to evaluating their potential, selecting the most interesting and providing vegetative material to authorized nurseries, for future multiplication and use by the productive sector, which will also allow the preservation of this genetic material.
Sulcastas, which started in the same year, in 2011, had as its main objectives, in a first phase, to discover and preserve several grape varieties in danger of extinction and plant them in collections nationwide and regionally.
This work can be seen and explained throughout the visit.
In a next phase, a characterization of the planted material will be made, its evaluation, microvinification studies carried out, and, in case of interest, it can be used in production.
"These collections are among the most important in the country", guarantees the Regional Directorate of Agriculture.
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