Indigenous Apple Research Articles

Study of Agrobiologic and Pomological Characteristics of Some Aboriginal Varieties of Apple Tree Cultivated in the Territory of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic

The article presents the agrobiologic and pomological characteristics of indigenous apple varieties cultivated in the territory of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The origin of each variety, average fruit weight, disease susceptibility, yield per hectare and tasting prices are described in detail here. The article presents the history of the development of fruit growing in Nakhchivan, as well as what foreign travelers say about Nakhchivan, and the history of gardening in Nakhchivan goes back to ancient times. According to travelers, the history of fruit growing in Nakhchivan dates back 3,500 years or even earlier. For the first time, we studied the exact list of apple varieties common in Nakhchivan, noted their names and synonyms. Also, the varieties and forms of apple trees cultivated in Nakhchivan were grouped into local varieties, introduced varieties, folk selection varieties and newly discovered forms. As a result of the research, indigenous varieties and forms of apple trees cultivated on the territory of the autonomous republic were grouped according to their ripening time. The pomological characteristics of the indicated varieties and forms of apple trees are given in detail.

Conserving Ireland’s indigenous apple cultivars for genetic diversity, cultural heritage and future research

Conserving Ireland’s indigenous apple cultivars for genetic diversity, cultural heritage and future research

Genetic Characterization of Domestic Apple Varieties from Tuzla Canton, BiH

Aims: The basic precondition for apple breeding is the genetic diversity of varieties, which implies a large number of different, positive genes that enable adaptation to different weather conditions, resistance to new diseases and pests. One of the reliable sources of genetic diversity are indigenous varieties of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their genetic identification is the first step in a process that has as its ultimate goal the collection of genetic material. The main goal of this research is to analyze the genetic variability of five indigenous varieties of apple in Tuzla Canton, Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of contributing to the management of conservation and expansion of existing genetic resources, spreading this material through registered nurseries.
 Study Design: The research included fiveautochthonous apple varieties: "Ovčji nos“ “Dobrić“, "Šarenika“, "Rančica“ and "Petrovača“.
 Place and Duration of Study: Samples of young leaves were collected at the site of Donji Moranjci, City of Srebrenik,Tuzla Canton, Bosnia and Herzegovina in the spring of 2019.
 Methodology: In order to determine the genetic diversity of five indigenous apple varieties were genotyped ten SSR(Simple Sequence Repeats) markers.
 Results: No cases of synonyms or homonyms were found within the analyzed set.The results of the study indicate a pronounced differentiation, ie all five examined varieties represent unique genotypes.
 Conclusion: The examined sets of genotypes possess significant genetic variability, which is important especially when we consider that a relatively small number of samples have been analyzed.

Identification ofACS1,ACO1andETR1alleles in some indigenous apple genotypes

Identification of<i>ACS1</i>,<i>ACO1</i>and<i>ETR1</i>alleles in some indigenous apple genotypes

Characterisation of indigenous apple accessions with respect to polymorphism of ACS1 and ACO1 genes

Ethylene is the simplest signalling molecule with a hormone-like function that plays a major role in many developmental processes, including ripening of climacteric apple fruit. The allelic polymorphisms of ACS1 and ACO1 genes, encoding for ACC synthase and ACC oxidase, which catalyse the last two steps in the ethylene biochemical pathway, were analysed in nineteen indigenous apple accessions grown in individual growers' orchards in the regions of central and southwestern Serbia. A polymorphism was detected using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the ACS1 gene and the additional enzymatic digestion of the PCR product with BamH1 and RsaI for the ACO1 gene. The ACS1-1 and ACS1-2 alleles of the ACS1 gene, as well as the a and c alleles of the ACO1 gene were identified. The polymorphisms observed upon PCRs and digestion with restriction enzymes were generated in two genotypes for both genes, i.e. the ACS1 gene - ACS1-1/1 and ACS1-1/2, and the ACO1 gene - aa and ac. Out of nineteen apple accessions, sixteen were homozygous for the allele ACS1-1 and three were heterozygous (ACS1-1/2); regarding the ACO1 genotype, fourteen were homozygous for the allele a and five were heterozygous (ac allelic constitution). The molecular survey in the current study provides an increase in the number of apple accessions with potential to be used as parents in breeding programmes, aiming to obtain high quality cultivars that retain fruit texture during long storage. Therefore, the heterozygous accessions for the ACS1 gene - 'J-LuN/1', 'Kraljica' and 'Šumatovka', may have an important position in future breeding programmes.

Traditional, Indigenous Apple Varieties, a Fruit with Potential for Beneficial Effects: Their Quality Traits and Bioactive Polyphenol Contents.

Earlier studies suggested that traditional apple varieties have quality traits well accepted by consumers and beneficial effects on human health. The aim was to collect 25 traditional apple varieties grown in Croatia and to determine, for the first time in so many details, their external (weight, height, width, shape, color), internal quality traits (firmness, starch decomposition index, maturity index, soluble solid concentration, total acids, soluble solid/total acids ratio, pH), and seed characteristics. In addition, individual polyphenols were determined in the flesh and peel, by using RP-HPLC. All was compared to the commercial variety ‘Idared’. Quality parameters of these varieties were similar to those of the commercial variety. The flesh and peel contained flavan-3-ols, dihydrochalcones, phenolic acids, and flavonols, while anthocyanins were additionally found in the peel. Total polyphenols in the peel (536–3801 mg kg−1 fresh weight (FW)) and in the flesh (79–1294 mg kg−1 FW) of the majority of varieties were higher than in the commercial variety. Principal component analysis showed possible clustering according to polyphenol amounts. According to the observed diversity of quality traits and bioactive polyphenol contents, the traditional varieties have potential for consumer acceptance and increased cultivation.

Screening of exotic and indigenous apple rootstocks for different horticultural traits

An experiment was carried out to find the suitable exotic as well as indigenous apple rootstocks for temperate zone of India. The rootstocks were screened on the basis of 11 important pomological traits. The data revealed that maximum numbers of primary and secondary roots were noted of 93.40, 92.76 in MM.106 and USA 106 and 92.0 noted in CITHrootstock- 01, respectively. Maximum length of primary roots (19.83cm) was recorded of EMLA 106 whereas shortest primary roots (6.47 cm) were recorded of ALNARP. The longest secondary roots (11.83cm) were found in M.27 and shortest secondary roots (2.10 cm) in ALNARP rootstock. Most of the indigenous apple rootstocks were having short to medium length of secondary roots. Leaf area was recorded highest (3.80cm2) in CITH-Apple rootstock-04 and smallest (1.96 cm2) of USA- 106. All the evaluated rootstocks have pink colored petiole except B-9, which has dark red color. Highest collar rot incidence was observed in M- 27 and M-26 and least in indigenous root stocks (CITH-Apple rootstocks). Highest wooly aphid infection was found in M-9, B-9, M-27, EMLA-106 and ALNARP whereas least infestation noted in M-26 and indigenous apple rootstock (CITH-ARS-01, CITH-ARS-02, CITH-ARS-03, CITH-ARS-04, CITH-ARS-, CITH-ARS-09 and CITH-ARS-10). Primary root length has positive correlation with secondary root numbers, secondary root length and leaf petiole length but negative correlation with leaf area.SAARC J. Agri., 14(2): 117-125 (2016)

Phenolic and mineral profile of Balkan indigenous apple and pear cultivars

The aim of this study was chemical analysis of phenolic compounds, as well as mineral nutrients in pulp and peel obtained from Balkan indigenous apple and pear cultivars. Phenolic composition assesed by means of HPLC-DAD and spectrophotometric methods varied significantly between the cultivars for both peel and pulp. Among apples Mekica cultivar had the highest total phenolic content while Secerlija and Zlatna Parmenka had the lowest. In the case of pear samples the principal source of total phenolic content was Crna Takisa while their minimum was recorded for Bela Arapka. In most of the investigated samples chlorogenic acid in apples and arbutin in pears were major detected polyphenolic compounds. With regard to mineral analysis K was the most abundant followed by P, Mg, Ca and S. Iron was the dominant microelement in apple peel and pulp samples, while in pear samples the principal microelement was B. Obtained results provide detailed information on chemical composition of tested apple and pear cultivars and therby could encourage their wider cultivation and consumption.

Phenolic and mineral profiles of four Balkan indigenous apple cultivars monitored at two different maturity stages

Some primary and secondary metabolites, as well as mineral nutrients in pulp, peel and juice obtained from four Serbian indigenous apple cultivars (Kožara, Kolačara, Budimka and Šumatovka) collected at two different developmental stages were studied. With advanced maturation soluble solids content, total and reducing sugars increased, while l-ascorbic acid content and titratable acidity decreased. Thirteen phenolic compounds were quantified using LC–MS/MS. The total phenolic content (TPC) ranged from 9.37 to 1440mg/100g fw, and 0.83 to 7.84mg/100g fw in peel and pulp samples, respectively. Quercetin derivatives were the major detected polyphenolic group. Majority of determined phenolic compounds were influenced by cultivar and the best sources were cultivars Kolačara and Budimka. The content of flavonols (with the exception of quercitrin) varied significantly depending on maturity at harvest. With regard to mineral analysis, K was the most abundant ranging from 104 to 158mg/100g fw in peel, 74.4 to 93.3mg/100g fw in pulp, and 77.1 to 91.5mg/100g fw in juice samples. Obtained results provide detailed information on nutritional potential and chemical composition of tested apple cultivars and thereby could encourage their wider cultivation and consumption.

Genetic identity and relationships of Iranian apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) cultivars and landraces, wild Malus species and representative old apple cultivars based on simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker analysis

In order to shed light on the role of Iran in apple evolution and domestication, we chose to investigate the relationships of a collection of 159 accessions of wild and domesticated apples including Iranian indigenous apple cultivars and landraces, selected wild species, and old apple scion and rootstock cultivars from different parts of the world. The majority of the wild species belonged to M. sieversii, which is widely believed to be the main maternal wild ancestor of domestic apples, from Kazakhstan and M. orientalis, which is one of the probable minor ancestors of domestic apples, from Turkey and Russia located on the east and west of Iran, respectively. The accessions were assigned into six arbitrary populations for the purpose of generating information on genetic parameters. Nine simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci selected from previous studies in apple were screened over DNA extracted from all the accessions. Results showed that all SSR loci displayed a very high degree of polymorphism with 11–25 alleles per locus. In total, there were 153 alleles across all loci with an average of 17 alleles per locus. The SSR allelic data were then used for estimation of population genetic parameters, including genetic variation statistics, F-statistics, gene flow, genetic identity, genetic distance and then cluster analysis using POPGENE 1.32 software. The F-statistics and gene flow in particular, showed that there was more intra-population than between population variation. The genetic identity and genetic distance estimates, and the dendrogram generated from the un-weighted pair group arithmetic average (UPGMA) method of cluster analysis showed that the Iranian cultivars and landraces were more closely related to M. sieversii from Central Asia (east of Iran) and M. orientalis native to Turkey and Russia than to other accessions of Malus species. Also, the old apple cultivars from different parts of the world have a closer genetic relationship to M. sieversii, M. orientalis and the Iranian apples, than to other wild species. Based on these results, we suggest that the Iranian apples may occupy an intermediate position between the domesticated varieties and wild species. We propose that Iran could be one of the major players in apples’ domestication and transfer from Central Asia to the western countries.

Stomatal Distribution as an Index for Predicting the Growth Potential of Apple Stocks

SummaryIn the present study 27 apple rootstocks have been classified into five vigour groups, according to their stomatal distribution, which varied from 11·55 to 5·88 per unit area. Amongst the different stocks studied M. 25 had the maximum stomatal frequency, and M. 9 had the least. An indigenous apple clone M. boccata var. himalacia, very common in Kumaon hills, had 7·20 stomatal counts, i.e. between those for MM. 106 and M. 7. It is suggested that this may be an alternative dwarfing stock for apples.