Climate, site selection influenced

Trials are designed to cover a range of representative field conditions. Chile is a rather long and narrow country and the fruit regions extend for nearly 2,000 km, from the desert area in the north (no rain at all) to rainy areas receiving an annual average of 1.5 meters of rainfall in the southernmost part of the coimtry where berries are produced. Since climatic conditions have an important influence on the persistence and performance of selected chemicals, representative growing areas are carefully selected as trial sites. In a period of 12 years, over 1,500 supervised trials have been conducted. 

Only necessary, safe, and economically feasible protection should he specified, preferably by methods and techniques applied under controlled or automated conditions, thus eliminating or reducing the adverse influence of human variance. The local obtain ahUity of an efficient and expert labor force, as well as local climatic conditions at the initial production site and at the subsequent ports of call, will have a considerable influence on the selection of protective measures. Where these factors can have a critical effect on the efficiency of protection, preference should he given to those materials, methods, and techniques that can give the best results when used at the specific locahty. 

When breeding and selecting rootstocks for certain site conditions and localities, not only the resistance to phylloxera bnt also some other properties are of great importance. These involve affinity and compatibility, growth intensity, adaptation to soil and climatic conditions of the site and, last but not least, influence on grape and wine quality. 

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