Biochemical fruit composition of domestic and foreign apple cultivars and their use in breeding

Abstract

The report is devoted to the results of the long-term study of the biochemical composition of fruit in 11 most common in the recent past apple cultivars in Central Russia, 58 apple cultivars developed at Russian Research Institute of Fruit Crop Breeding and 56 foreign cultivars. In each group, cultivars with the highest content of sugar sum, ascorbic acid and sum of P-active substances have been allocated. The long-term study showed that previously most common domestic apple cultivars on average are significantly inferior to foreign ones in terms of soluble solids and sugars in fruit; they do not differ significantly in the average content of ascorbic acid, but significantly exceed the average content of P-vitamins. The cultivars possessing high content of sugars, ascorbic acid and P-active substances in fruit have been allocated in each of the groups under consideration. These apple cultivars are of great interest as sources of theses indications for further breeding. The examples of their use in the development of apple varieties of a new generation are given in this article. On the basis of the long-term experience the conclusion is made about the prospects of apple breeding for biochemical fruit composition improvement.