051 The USDA-ARS/Cornell University Apple Rootstock Breeding and Evaluation Program

Abstract

In 1998, the USDA-ARS and Cornell Univ. instituted a cooperative agreement that mobilized the resources for a jointly managed apple rootstock breeding and evaluation program. The program is a successor to the Cornell rootstock breeding program, formerly managed by Emeritus Professor of Horticultural Sciences James N. Cummins. The agreement broadens the scope of the program from a focus on regional concerns to address the constraints of all the U.S. apple production areas. In the future, the breeding program will continue to develop precocious and productive disease-resistant rootstock varieties with a range of vigor from fully dwarfing to near standard size, but there will be a renewed emphasis on nursery propagability, lodging resistance, tolerance to extreme temperatures, resistance to the soil pathogens of the sub-temperate regions of the U.S., and tolerance to apple replant disorder. The program draws on the expertise available at the Geneva campus through cooperation with plant pathologists, horticulturists, geneticists, biotechnologists, and the curator of the national apple germplasm repository. More than 1000 genotypes of apple rootstocks are currently under evaluation, and four fire blight- (Erwinia amylovora) resistant cultivars have been recently released from the program. As a service to U.S. apple producers, rootstock cultivars from other breeding programs will also be evaluated for productivity, size control, and tolerance to a range of biotic and abiotic stress events. The project will serve as an information source on all commercially available apple rootstock genotypes for nurseries and growers.