Leading Italian fresh produce breeding company Consorzio Italiano Vivaisti (CIV) has unveiled five new apple varieties which it says will not only offer consumers good-tasting products but also provide growers and traders with excellent yields, environmentally friendly production and, crucially, resistance to diseases including scab.
The new varieties – Gaia, Gemini, Renetta, Smeralda and Fujion – all have similarities to cultivars already well established on the global apple market, but according to CIV are naturally robust, meaning their cultivation and storage is expected to have 'minimal environmental impact'.
The apples are already being produced at test sites in 44 test sites worldwide and, by 2011, production yields are expected to be sufficient to allow the first in-market commercial trials to take place.
'These new varieties offer not only positive qualities including taste and yield, but also resistance to a number of diseases,' commented CIV breeder Michelangelo Leis during a press conference to publicise the varieties.
'They are the result of many years of research,' he continued. 'They are genetically new, not mutations of other varieties. What makes them special is the fact that they are simultaneously resistant to scab and also sweet tasting; existing resistant varieties are almost all bitter tasting and therefore not popular with consumers.'
Gaia and Gemini both resemble Royal Gala but are harvested three and eight days later respectively compared with the latter variety.
Renoir, meanwhile, is a russeted, green variety which bears a resemblance to Renoir but which can be harvested a week earlier.
Smeralda has the appearance of Granny Smith but crops some 30 days earlier, while Fujion offers a potential three-day head-start on Fuji.
According to one trade observer, Fujion stands out as a potential replacement for Fuji in markets worldwide.
In terms of how they will be marketed, CIV president Mauro Grossi said the company would look to adopt a slightly different approach to other apple varieties recently introduced to the global marketplace.
'These latest varieties will not be managed using a club system,' he insisted. 'We are open to considering and setting up all kinds of collaborative arrangements for their productive and commercial development.
CIV, which was responsible for developing apple varieties now marketed under the registered trademarks Rubens and Modì, is a joint venture between three of Italy's leading fresh produce nurseries: Salvi Vivai, Vivai Mazzoni and Tagliani Vivai, and is a key member of the International New varieties Network (INN).
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