Articles
APPLE BREEDING IN ALTAI REGION
Article number
224_24
Pages
197 – 198
Language
Abstract
Under the severe climatic conditions of Siberia fruit growing is possible only with frost-resistant apple cultivars.
Middle Russian apple varieties are grown here only in creeping forms, with the trees covered with snow over the whole winter.
With the introduction of the Siberian apple species M. Pallasiana into breeding, enthusiastic people started fruit growing in Siberia at the beginning of 20th century using the first created frost-resistant small fruited Reinette types /7 – 12 g/. However, these had unsatisfactory tastes and were unsuitable for use in the fresh state.
After sowing seeds from cultivars with bigger fruit growers obtained semicultural varieties /15 – 30 g/, which surpassed by 2 – 3 times early small fruited Reinette types in fruit weight and taste quality.
However, they lacked a high level of frost-resistance.
The problem has been solved since the Research Institution for the Altai region was established in 1933. The work of improving the assortment is carried out by the introduction of foreign cultivars and by the breeding of new local varieties with improved economic-biological properties.
Using Mitschurin’s method of geographically distant interspecies hybridization and repeated mass selection of small Reinette types and semicultured varieties derived from crossing M. Pallasiana x M. domestica varieties with big fruits and with predominantly summer or autumn ripening time /genetically connected with M. prunifolia/ the breeders at the Altai region Research Institute created and studied 285 000 hybrids /on their roots/ from 998 combinations.
They obtained 49 cultivars, 11 of which were registered and 32 of which were introduced into State variety trials.
The cultivars survive winters well and only a few are damaged to a high degree in severe winters, but even these recover quickly.
Average fruit weight of some of the cultivars is from 12 to 35 g, but 22 cultivars have weights from 40 to 60 g, and 6 cultivars have fruit weights from 80 to 120 g.
Some 30 cultivars have good fruit taste, while eight have a very excellent taste.
Autumn ripening varieties are most-common, but there are also 9 summer varieties and 15 winter varieties.
Fruit of cultivars from the Altai region are distinguished by precocity, good cropping, and by a high content of nutrient substances.
Several cultivars including ‘Zolotaya Tayga’, ‘Osennaya Radost’, ‘Altaya’, ‘Aliye Parusa’, ‘Zavetnoe’ and others are distinguished by the spur type of fruit bearing.
Most of the apple varieties so far bred are scab resistant.
Further work on breeding is aiming at improvement of the breeding methods, acceleration of the breeding process and assortment improvement for commercial, collective and small family orchards in Siberia.
Middle Russian apple varieties are grown here only in creeping forms, with the trees covered with snow over the whole winter.
With the introduction of the Siberian apple species M. Pallasiana into breeding, enthusiastic people started fruit growing in Siberia at the beginning of 20th century using the first created frost-resistant small fruited Reinette types /7 – 12 g/. However, these had unsatisfactory tastes and were unsuitable for use in the fresh state.
After sowing seeds from cultivars with bigger fruit growers obtained semicultural varieties /15 – 30 g/, which surpassed by 2 – 3 times early small fruited Reinette types in fruit weight and taste quality.
However, they lacked a high level of frost-resistance.
The problem has been solved since the Research Institution for the Altai region was established in 1933. The work of improving the assortment is carried out by the introduction of foreign cultivars and by the breeding of new local varieties with improved economic-biological properties.
Using Mitschurin’s method of geographically distant interspecies hybridization and repeated mass selection of small Reinette types and semicultured varieties derived from crossing M. Pallasiana x M. domestica varieties with big fruits and with predominantly summer or autumn ripening time /genetically connected with M. prunifolia/ the breeders at the Altai region Research Institute created and studied 285 000 hybrids /on their roots/ from 998 combinations.
They obtained 49 cultivars, 11 of which were registered and 32 of which were introduced into State variety trials.
The cultivars survive winters well and only a few are damaged to a high degree in severe winters, but even these recover quickly.
Average fruit weight of some of the cultivars is from 12 to 35 g, but 22 cultivars have weights from 40 to 60 g, and 6 cultivars have fruit weights from 80 to 120 g.
Some 30 cultivars have good fruit taste, while eight have a very excellent taste.
Autumn ripening varieties are most-common, but there are also 9 summer varieties and 15 winter varieties.
Fruit of cultivars from the Altai region are distinguished by precocity, good cropping, and by a high content of nutrient substances.
Several cultivars including ‘Zolotaya Tayga’, ‘Osennaya Radost’, ‘Altaya’, ‘Aliye Parusa’, ‘Zavetnoe’ and others are distinguished by the spur type of fruit bearing.
Most of the apple varieties so far bred are scab resistant.
Further work on breeding is aiming at improvement of the breeding methods, acceleration of the breeding process and assortment improvement for commercial, collective and small family orchards in Siberia.
Publication
Authors
T.F. Kornienko
Keywords
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