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  • Author or Editor: David S. Bedford x
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We used microsatellite loci to investigate the parentage of the apple cultivar `Honeycrisp', a patented University of Minnesota introduction. In an attempt to find the correct parents, we also examined other apple varieties associated with the University of Minnesota apple breeding program. Based on written records from the 1960s, the presumed parents of `Honeycrisp' were `Honeygold' and `Macoun'. We were able to exclude both of these as parents, but found that `Keepsake' was consistent as one of the parents. A second potential parent could not be discovered. `Haralson', another commercially important cultivar from the University of Minnesota, is likely from a cross between `Malinda' and `Wealthy'.

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Apple (Malus ×domestica Borkh.) breeding at the University of Minnesota (UMN) has been ongoing continuously since 1908 when staff originally planted thousands of seedlings from open-pollinated (OP) seeds collected from regional orchards. The first cultivar from the program, ‘Minnehaha’, was introduced in 1920 and several others from these OP seeds followed over the next 3 decades. Controlled crosses were initiated in 1916, and until the time of this publication, 28 cultivars have been introduced. Historical records of parentage, as recorded by staff in notebooks and in 20th-century publications, have been used to inform breeding decisions but might be incorrect as indicated by earlier explorations of parentage using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Our objective was to elucidate parentage and extended pedigrees of all available cultivars introduced from the UMN apple breeding program using evaluations of Mendelian errors and shared haplotype length information based on data from single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays. Sixteen of the 21 cultivars introduced before ‘Honeycrisp’ (1991) had incorrect or incomplete pedigrees that are now at least partially elucidated. These include the two most important regional cultivars in the 20th century: ‘Haralson’ (parents: ‘Malinda’ and ‘Wealthy’) and ‘Fireside’ (parents: ‘Wealthy’ and ‘Northwest Greening’). ‘Wealthy’, a widely grown cultivar in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was a frequent parent of older UMN cultivars. ‘Malinda’ was a less frequent parent than indicated by breeding records. ‘Duchess of Oldenburg’ (synonym ‘Borowitsky’) was revealed as an ancestor of overwhelming importance in the UMN breeding program. It was an ancestor of 27 of the 28 UMN cultivars, including as a parent of two cultivars, and a grandparent of 15 cultivars, including ‘Honeycrisp’.

Open Access

Incorporating DNA-informed breeding techniques can improve selection efficiency for desired traits as compared with conventional breeding methods that do not use DNA-informed techniques. Incorporation of DNA technologies requires additional costs associated with reagents, equipment, and labor. To elucidate the cost-effectiveness of DNA-informed breeding in perennial crops with multiple years per generation, we conducted a cost–benefit analysis examining incorporation of marker-assisted selection (MAS), a type of DNA-informed breeding, applied to an apple breeding program. Annual operational costs for a midwest apple breeding program were used to develop a simulation with inputs including itemized costs and per unit costs for procedures at each breeding program stage. Simulations compared costs of MAS breeding techniques to conventional breeding methods to identify the break-even point (BEP) where cost-savings associated with MAS equals the accrued additional costs. Additional sensitivity analyses were conducted to examine changes in laboratory costs, seedling maintenance costs, and seedling evaluation costs. We found the BEP for this program occurs when MAS results in a removal rate of 13.18%, and changes to other costs (i.e., maintenance costs) result in a smaller percent decrease to the overall program budget. Our findings are useful to perennial crop breeding programs in which managers are considering incorporating DNA-informed breeding techniques.

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MN55 is an apple (Malus ×domestica Borkh.) cultivar recently released by the University of Minnesota apple breeding program, with fruit marketed in the U.S. as Rave®. When stored for 4 months at 0 to 4 °C, MN55 fruit can develop several storage disorders, including skin dimpling. Skin dimpling incidence was greater for fruit harvested 1 week later than those harvested earlier. Dimpling was not alleviated by prestorage treatments of 1-methylcyclopropene or diphenylamine or by holding fruit at room temperature for 1 day before long-term cold storage. However, dimpling incidence was very low when fruit were stored at 6 to 7 °C. Because viruses have been implicated in other fruit dimpling disorders, the presence of viruses in MN55 leaves and fruit was studied. Apple stem pitting virus (ASPV) was detected by microscopy, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) methodology, and high throughput sequencing (HTS) in peel of fruit from MN55 trees that exhibited skin dimpling after 4 months of storage at 0 to 1 °C. ASPV was also detected in supermarket-purchased fruit of other cultivars with noticeable skin dimpling. Although ASPV was not conclusively demonstrated to cause skin dimpling in our work, its prevalence indicates that further investigations are warranted to determine the relationship between viruses and skin deformities in stored apples.

Open Access

The effects of growing and storage locations and storage temperature on soft scald incidence of `Honeycrisp' apples were examined. In 1999 and 2000, fruits were produced at five different locations, harvested at two different times, and stored at two or five different storage locations. In 1999, fruits were stored at 0 or 2 °C. Soft scald was only observed in fruits from one growing location and primarily at 0 °C. More soft scald was observed from the second harvest than from the first. Scalded fruits were preclimacteric as determined by ethylene production rate, whereas fruits from the other locations were postclimacteric. In 2000, fruits from four of the growing locations developed soft scald, and soft scald incidence was not related to ethylene production rate. Scalded fruits had higher concentrations of phosphorus, boron, and magnesium, and lower concentrations of manganese than unaffected fruit. Development of soft scald was not related to fruit ethylene production rates, was dependent on growing location, increased with later harvest, and may be related to fruit elemental content.

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