The nature and inheritance of sweetness and acidity in the cultivated apple

✍ Scribed by A. G. Brown; D. M. Harvey

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1971
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 625 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0014-2336
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00146776

✦ Synopsis

A survey was made of the sweetness and sourness of the fruits of apple cultivars. Measurements of the concentration of sugars and malic acid in ripe fruits were made and the variation between samples of a cultivar, between cultivars, between years and between cultivars and their tetraploid and colour sports was studied and showed a wide range of variation between cultivars but fairly constant values within cultivars.

The study of a number of progenies shows that sweetness and sourness are inherited independently. Sweetness shows a quantitative pattern of inheritance and the progeny mean approximates the mid-parent value. Sourness is controlled by a single gene, with medium and high acidity being dominant to very low, superimposed on a quantitative pattern.

The mean sugar and acid concentrations of a progeny and the approximate range of variation can be predicted from the sugar and acid concentrations found in the parents.