Cider apple breeding in France

Few breeding programs for creating cider apple cultivars are present in France. From defining the breeding objectives of a program to the release of a new cultivar, 30 years may pass. Many steps are necessary to ensure that a cultivar will be of interest to producers and cider makers. These steps are described in this paper. The program initiated in 1987, has been completed, but it appeared that the main objectives were not so well fixed. It aimed at improving the flavour of existing cultivars. Unfortunately, over a period of 25-30 years, cider makers changed their priorities in response to evolving consumption patterns, hence cultivars were not meeting consumer preferences at their release. The current program is a good illustration of the collaboration between INRAE, IFPC and the French cider apple chain (growers, processors and cooperatives).