The storability of winter apples is one of the most important properties of apple trees, if not the most important, which is taken into account when choosing a variety for growing in an orchard or home garden. The long winter period in Russia has always forced the population to create food reserves that would last throughout the winter, including plant fruits. Therefore, apple tree breeding in this territory has focused on obtaining long-term storable fruits that do not lose much quality over time.
The main focus of the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Fruit Cultures (VNIISPK) in the city Orel has been and still is the breeding of highly valued winter apple varieties with multiple resistance to fungal diseases on a polygenic basis. The beginning of the activity of this institute dates back to 1946, when A.V. Parshin sowed a small amount of seeds obtained from the free pollination of the original Michurin varieties with varieties originating from central Russia that were more frost-resistant. Since then, breeding has continued uninterruptedly and the reason is the still unceasing demand for new varieties of winter apple trees producing long-term storable apples capable of maintaining quality parameters during storage. This means taste, texture, consistency and the content of biologically active substances. Over time, the requirements for the quality of apple varieties change and breeders must respond to these changed requirements by changing their breeding priorities and, most importantly, not ceasing to crossbreed and subsequently select suitable types of varieties.
Therefore, the current goal of the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Fruit Cultures is:
- creation of varieties highly resistant or even immune to scab using advanced methods of identifying responsible genes with the application of a combination of field and oligogenic resistance
- creation of adaptive triploid apple varieties with more regular fertility, with attractive-looking fruits and partial self-pollination (triploid apple trees have three chromosome sets in a cell and are formed by crossing tetraploid and diploid apple varieties, they are cross-pollinated, but under certain circumstances it is possible to achieve a partial level of self-pollination)
- creation of columnar apple varieties for super-intensive orchards and development of basic elements of growing technology
The main stress factors that decisively affect the economic result in the apple orchard are:
- late frosts at the end of spring
- uneven distribution of precipitation during the growing season
- the occurrence of pests and fungal diseases
In order to achieve a consistently high productivity and quality of apples, it is necessary to ensure the highest possible level of adaptability to the stress factors of the growing environment through breeding. A possible solution is the breeding and use of triploid apple varieties that are characterized by increased adaptability to the environment and also resistance to diseases.
Current varieties of winter apple trees of the latest generation must meet a number of requirements, such as high and regular fertility, the highest degree of resistance to fungal diseases and pests, very tasty and visually attractive fruits with a long storage period, while storage does not have to be ensured in areas with a controlled atmosphere (temperature, oxygen/nitrogen ratio), but the conditions provided by a cellar, home refrigerator or other space available to the gardener must also be sufficient. If the result of breeding is an economically valuable variety, from which apples can be consumed for as long as possible from harvest until late spring of the following year, then the goal has been successfully achieved.
