Resistance Breeding in Apple at Dresden-Pillnitz

Summary

Resistance breeding in apple has a long tradition at the Institute of Fruit Breeding now
Julius Kuehn-institute in Dresden-Pillnitz. The breeding was aimed at the production of
multiple resistance cultivars to allow a more sustainable and environmentally friendly
production of apple. In the last decades a series of resistant cultivars (Re®-cultivars)
bred in Dresden-Pillnitz has been released, ‘Recolor’ and ‘Rekarda’ in 2006. The main
topic in the resistance breeding programme was scab resistance and the donor of scab
resistance in most cultivars was Malus x floribunda 821. Due to the development of
strains that are able to overcome resistance genes inherited by M. x floribunda 821 and
due to the fact that single resistance genes can be broken easily, pyramiding of
resistance genes is necessary. Besides scab, fire blight and powdery mildew are the
main disease for which a pyramiding of genes is aspired in Pillnitz. Biotechnical
approaches are necessary for the early detection of pyramided resistance genes in
breeding clones. This paper will give an overview of the resistance breeding of apple in
Pillnitz and the methods used.