New varieties of red-fleshed apples have been bred in China

Professor Xuesen Chen's team from Shandong Agricultural University won the National Ctai Prize for inventions in creating a high-quality and high-efficiency technology for breeding new varieties of apples, Produce Report reports. The researchers used local wild apple trees and the Red Fuji variety to unravel the molecular mechanism of creating a high-flavonoid apple, and created CSR6R6 high-flavonoid apple germplasm. They also used CSR6R6 from Gala, Fuji and other cultivars as parental forms and bred 4 new red-fleshed apple varieties Xinghong, Fuhong, Meihong and Manhong. These new varieties have a bright red skin, red flesh with a sweet and sour taste. They are expected to fill the gap in the assortment of red apples in Asian countries. While breeding red-fleshed apples, Chen Xuesen's team also invented a unique breeding method that reduced the breeding period from 20 years to 15 years. These new apple varieties have a ...