New Zealand plant geneticists appear to have beaten conventional breeders in an international search for a seedless apple that could become a commercial success.
HortResearch scientists, led by geneticist Jia-Long Yao of Auckland, have identified mutations in a single gene that can produce seedless apples.
Hortresearch is expected to seek intellectual property
rights over the work of its scientists, but a spokeswoman said it would probably be years before the discovery could be translated into pipless apples, pears, or even stoneless summerfruit, such as plums.
Centuries of conventional plant breeding have produced a few seedless apple varieties, but their fruit is small and often poor in eating quality.
Orchardists have continued to seek seedless apples because their experience with other fruit such as grapes suggests some consumers will pay a premium for them.
And the arrival in New Zealand's of the varroa mite - which is expected to devastate the wild bee population over the next few years - has focused attention on the possibility of seedless varieties that will crop without needing pollination.
Hand pollination of some seedless apple varieties makes the trees produce twice the normal number of seeds, but their flowers are so stunted that they do not attract insect pollinators.
Nature magazine said it was such distorted flowers that gave Dr Yao's group a clue to the cause of the apples' seedlessness.
- NZPA
