THE release of about 75,000 apple trees to growers in coming weeks is the culmination of more than 20 years of meticulous work by the Department of Agriculture and Food WA.
The cross to create the new dark burgundy apple variety, ANABP 01, was made in 1992 between Cripps Red and Royal Gala.
Thousands of seedlings are produced every year from the breeding program.
About one in 400 make it to the next stage of the departments testing in the systematic quest for superior fruit to benefit both growers and consumers.
The department's apple breeder Fucheng Shan said even though the WA apple industry was small by world standards it was still important to retain a local breeding program.
"We have a very specific climate with long hot dry summers and mild winters," Dr Shan said.
"This means that introduced varieties often don't perform as well here as in their countries of origin.
"We need varieties with lower chilling requirements that colour well under mild night temperatures."
The team is working towards increasing the efficiency of the process by reducing the number of seedlings to be evaluated, through the use of molecular markers. It is assessing varieties with new fruit quality attributes and increased health benefits.
It typically takes about 20 years to produce and fully test new varieties before release.
To reach the release stage, a selection has to progress through several stages of evaluation by being superior to existing varieties or novel in the marketplace.
Evaluation includes field and laboratory measurements of important characteristics such as fruit set, yield, sugar and acid content, flesh pressures and keeping ability.
Sensory evaluation, a system of rating appearance and eating characteristics, is also undertaken in an attempt to assess consumer opinions.
Fruit West Cooperative Ltd is licensed to commercialise the new variety and 75,000 trees are available for immediate delivery to growers.
Co-operative chairman Ben Darbyshire of Kirup said the 18-month-old trees were about two metres tall, budded onto both M26, a dwarfing rootstock, and MM106, a conventional stock.
Inquiries about purchasing trees or viewing established trees can be made to Nardia Shaw at Fruit West Co-operative at nardia@fruitwest.org.au.
