'Marlena' - a new apple cultivar from Bulgaria

The cultivar ‘Marlena’ has been obtained through controlled hybridization between ‘Florina’ and ‘Macfree’ at the Institute of Agriculture - Kyustendil, and was recognized as a new cultivar in 2010. The original seedling was propagated on MM 106 rootstock, planted at distances of 4.5×2.5 m and grown under conventional technology for apple. In the article we present data for biological and economic qualities of the cultivar for the period 2014-2017. On rootstock MM 106 the trees had moderate growth and fruit mainly on one- and two-year-old wood. The cultivar had regular and high productivity. The fruits ripened between September 15 and 20. They were large (210 g), with very good quality. The skin was yellow-greenish in color, covered almost entirely with a light red cover color. During the study the trees showed resistance to apple scab, which is a major advantage of the cultivar, and makes it very suitable for organic fruit production.