Abstract: The apple varieties cultivated commercially today are nearly all based on six relatively disease-susceptible "ancestor varieties": Golden Delicious, Cox Orange, Jonathan, McIntosh, Red Delicious and James Grieve. This applies to apples bred between 1920 and today, and includes new scab-resistant cultivars. The following article shows the scale of the genetic narrowing and highlights problems with the vitality of modern apples. The author compares the healthiness of old and new apple varieties in his trial orchard under a no-fungicide spray regime. He concludes that the overall vitality of apples trees is more important than a narrow focusing on scab-resistance, and that apple tree health could be improved by using the genetic potential of old apple varieties.

Keywords: Old Fruit varieties, Apple allergy, Apple varieties, Apple breeding, Cox Orange, Golden Delicious, Genetic diversity in apple cultivation, James Grieve, Jonathan, McIntosh, Fruit Breeding, Red Delicious, scab resistance, vitality of apple varieties.

COPYRIGHT DECLARATION
This English translation from the German is İReinhard Schomberg-Klee and Nigel Deacon.

It is published with the permission of Mr. Hans-Joachim Bannier and Carol Lerch, Springer spectrum | Springer-Verlag GmbH, SAV-journals, editorial BIOspektrum.

The original article originally appeared in Erwerbs-Obstbau Volume 52, 2011, Numbers 3-4, 85-110, DOI: 10.1007/s10341-010-0113-4 .

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