An Evaluation of Delicious Strains for the Size and Shape of Fruit

Abstract

Delicious strains have been evaluated primarily for fruit color and tree characteristics (1), although size and shape of fruit has received some attention. Westwood (5) showed that the fruits of Starkrimson (Bisbee strain) were more elongated than Starking. Meheriuk et al. (4) evaluated 22 strains of Delicious and found that fruits of spur strains were longer than those from trees with standard growth habit. In contrast, Fisher et al. (1) found only small differences in fruit shape among Delicious strains collected from orchards in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. Nevertheless, the fruits of Oregon Spur were flattest of 13 standard and spur strains sampled, and the fruit were more uniform in shape. In a 4-year study of Delicious strains involving 3 locations, Ketchie and Olsen (2) found no specific trend in fruit circumference, weight or shape. The authors concluded that probably there is more variability between years and locations than among strains themselves.