Objectives

• Fast composition of a collection of late flowering apple and pear varieties on the participating farms by using data from literature research, variety trials and surveys at advisors and owners of landscape varieties
• Medium term recommendation of varieties for table fruit production
• long term recommendation of varieties for landscape owners and juice producers
• Long term development of new apple and pear varieties with good adaption to new climatic conditions by breeding and using marker assisted selection
• Security for growers in fruitproduction by using frost tolerant varieties and continous supply for marketers and the  processing of juice production

Activities

Global warming has led to early flowering of apple and pear. For this reason the risk of frost injuries during flowering has inreased dramatically. Meanwhile every second year is affected by frost injuries. Mostly the currently cultivated varieties are suceptible for frost damages (for example Junagold as triploid or Topaz as early flowering genotype). Therefore, the aims of the project are: 

• selection of frost tolerant apple and pear varieties at different locations
• selection of suitable varieties for organic farming and cultivation of these in test sites with high risks of frost injuries
• breeding of late flowering new varieties by using the evaluated genetic material an marker assisted selection