Investigation On Development Of New Apple Varieties In Loess Plateau

The Loess Plateau is the most potential dominant apple producing area in China, but serious problems exist in variety diversity and structure. So developing new varieties and promoting variety structure will be of great significance for the sustainable development of local apple industry. Based on the recently released apple varieties world wide, the current work investigated the development of new varieties in Shaanxi, Gansu, Shanxi and Henan, analyzed fruit quality of some varieties in several representative areas, compared the performance of several new varieties, then advices for new varieties development in Loess Plateau were proposed. The main results are as follows:1. Recently, a number of new apple varieties had been bred via hybridization and bud mutation, enriching the varieties and assuring varieties upgrading in China.2. Investigation in Shaanxi, Gansu, Shaanxi and Henan showed that increasing number of(more than 60) new apple varieties had been introduced in Loess Plateau in recent years. The superior varieties of Fuji(including premature Fuji), Gala, Delicious were predominant, and other new varieties, such as Pink Lady, Ryohka, Honeycrisp, Zhongqiuwang, Qinyang, Huashuo, etc., had relatively large development potential.3. Investigation of varieties development in several representative areas(Baishui County, Fuping County, Fengxiang County, Linyi City, Maiji District, Jingning County, Sanmenxia City) showed that there were significant variations in importing quantity, cultivation performance and scale of new varieties among different regions, but cultivation technique mismatch problems existed in all these areas.4. Investigation of the performance of some new varieties in Baishui, Shaanxi, showed that cultivation scale of Envy and Huahong could be expanded because of their good performance, further test was needed for Modi and Jazz because of their general fruit performance.5. Comprehensive analysis indicated that for the diversiform site conditions in Loess Plateau, regional characteristics should be highlighted during new varieties development, and in order to promote the variety structure, more attentions should paid to Pink Lady, Ryohka, Honeycrisp and Qinyang while focusing on Fuji, Gala and Delicious, and promotion and extension of matched management technique should be strengthened.