Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Disease-resistant cultivars are a major target of current apple breeding
programmes. With the exception of 'Judeline', grown for juice production,
they face a problem in competing in dessert quality and handling characteris-
tics with established cultivars, and new cultivars selected primarily for eating,
handling and storage quality.
'Florina', selected in Beaucouze, France, by Y. Lespinasse, J.M. Oliver,
J. LespinasseandM.LeLezec,wasmadeavailabletoFrenchgrowersin
.It
has 'Golden Delicious', 'Giant Starking', 'Jonathan' and a donor of the
Vf
gene
in its ancestry, is resistant to apple scab, tolerant to rosy apple aphid and fire
blight but moderately susceptible to powdery mildew. It is early-bearing and
productive with medium to large sweet fruits with cream-coloured, medium-
firm flesh. The skin is three-quarters purplish-red on a yellow background.
The fruit stores well but softens quickly out of storage.
'Freedom', bred in Geneva, New York by Robert C. Lamb was released in
. Its ancestry includes 'Machan' (a 'McIntosh' cross), 'Golden Delicious',
'Rome Beauty', 'Antonovka' and
Malus floribunda
. The trees are precocious
and productive and the fruits are large with mainly red-coloured skin, creamy
coloured firm, juicy and subacid flesh. It is resistant to apple scab, cedar apple
rust, fire blight and powdery mildew.
'Liberty' was bred at Geneva, New York, by Robert Lamb with 'Macoun'
×
PRI
. The trees are resistant to scab,
cedar apple rust, fire blight and powdery mildew. They are very productive,
giving a 'McIntosh' type of fruit with a crisp texture.
'Goldrush' ('Co-op
-
' parentage and released in
') was bred at West La Fayette, Indiana by J.A. Crosby,
J. Janick, P.C. Pecknold, J. Goffreda and S.S. Korban and introduced in
.
It had 'Golden Delicious' and 'Co-op
' as parents. The harvest season is
days after 'Delicious', the fruits have good flavour and outstanding storage
life and the trees are immune to scab (
Vf
gene), moderately resistant to fire
blight and moderately tolerant to mildew but susceptible to cedar apple rust.
'Primicia', released in
, was bred in Cacador, Santa Catarina, Brazil by
F. Denardi, L.F. Hough and A.P. Camilo. It is resistant to apple scab and mod-
erately resistant to powdery mildew. The trees are precocious and heavy crop-
ping. They flower a few days before 'Gala' and have only a moderate winter-
chilling requirement, cropping without the need for a dormancy-breaking
spray in Santa Catarina where the mainstream cultivars require such a spray.
The fruits are of medium size, firm and ripen three weeks before those of
'Gala'.
'Saturn' was raised at East Malling by Frank Alston and Ray Watkins from
a cross between 'PRI
' and 'Starkspur Golden Delicious'. It was registered
in
, has a very high level of scab resistance, moderate mildew resistance
and is precocious and heavy cropping. The fruits are large, juicy, crisp and
sweet, predominantly bright red in colour with excellent skin finish.
