Preliminary results of Romanian-Korean apple breeding

Apple cultivars with a high fruit quality, good productivity and disease and pest resistance are highly required by fruit growers. A common breeding program between the Research Institute for Fruit Growing Pitesti, Romania and Gyeongsangbuk-do Agricultural Research and Extension Services (GBARES), Korea started in 2014 in order to combine European and Korean apple market demands. Large fruit size, red skin color, high sugar content and good orchard performance are the major objectives for the cooperation. Beginning with autumn 2014, eleven Romanian apple cultivars ('Generos', 'Aura', 'Doina', 'Dani', 'Starkprim', 'Bistriţean', 'Iris', 'Salva', 'Jonaprim', 'Luca', and 'Sel. 07-10-25') and twelve foreign cultivars ('Red Jonaprince', 'Topaz', 'Idared', 'Red Idared', 'Golden Lasa', 'Greensleaves', '3191 A', 'Dalinbel', 'Ariwa', 'Orion', 'Priam', and 'Saturn') were evaluated following physical parameters (fruit weight, fruit diameter, flesh firmness) and soluble solids content. The useful genitors were selected for large fruit size ('Red Jonaprince', 'Dalinbel'), red skin color ('Iris', 'Crimson Crisp'), general appearance and high sugar content ('Topaz', 'Fuji'), long storage life and red skin color ('Enterprise'). In addition, pollen from two Korean genotypes ('Aika' and 'Sel. GBA 03-05-07') was introduced in the hybridization schedule. Seven cross combinations were released in spring 2015, including 2,485 inflorescences hand pollinated and 715 hybrid fruits harvested. The paper deals with the first steps of the work.