Apple breeding process duration and ways of its reduction

A careful 63-year-old work on apple breeding, resulting in the creation of 54 its varieties, included in the State Register of breeding achievements admitted for use, makes it possible to speak about the ways of reduction in the time of the actual breeding process and the subsequent stages of accelerating the introduction of new varieties into production. According to the experience of the Russian Research Institute of Fruit Crop Breeding, an average of 19 years is spent from hybridization to the adoption of a variety for State trials, and from hybridization to inclusion in the State Register it is spent 27 years. The requirements for new apple varieties are changing and becoming tougher to a large extent during this period. We off er the possibility of reducing the time to create a new variety by combining in time the actual breeding process and the primary variety study. For this purpose already during the selection and transfer of biannual seedlings to the breeding orchard it is necessary to multiply and include the best seedlings on morphological features with a culture of 5 points (no more than 1 seedling per thousand selected ones) in the primary study. In this case the actual breeding process is combined with the primary study. When transferring the variety to the state trial, it is necessary to lay orchards of a small production testing of 20-40 trees of a new variety in each of the three replications. The time of single breeders is a thing of the past. To create varieties that meet high requirements of production (convenient for cultivation, highly adapted to local conditions, with a certain shape of tree crowns, with the fruits of high commodity and consumer qualities), interdisciplinary teams are needed, which include not only breeders, but also pomologists, geneticists, cytoembryologists, biochemists, physiologists, phytopathologists, and agricultural technicians. Usually years, and sometimes decades are spent on the creation of well-coordinated teams of professionals of diff erent specialties, but only such teams are able to create varieties that meet all main requirements. At Russian Research Institute of Fruit Crop Breeding such a team consists of 22 people.

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