North American apple-tree species: sources of useful agronomic traits for breeding

The results of studying the collection of North American apple-tree species are presented. Forms with a whole set of traits interesting for breeding are highlighted, including such features as late flowering schedule, disease resistance, long shelf life of fruits, etc. In addition, the small-fruited ornamental apple-tree (crab apple) accessions obtained from North American species are briefly described, and the most valuable of them are recommended for practical uses.

Hybridisation of Malus sylvestris (L.) Mill. with Malus × domestica Borkh. and Implications for the Production of Forest Reproductive Material

This study focuses on the morphological and genetic characteristics of European crab apple (Malus sylvestris (L.) Mill.) and the occurrence of hybrids in its populations. We analyzed a total of 107 putative European crab apple trees in Slovenia: 92 from nine natural populations, five from a seed stand and 10 from a stand of unnatural origin. We also included 18 domesticated apple trees (Malus × domestica Borkh.) and two Japanese flowering crab apple trees (Malusfloribunda van Houtte) as outliers. The trees were classified into groups of European crab apples, hybrids and domesticated apples according to their morphological and genetic characteristics. Classification based on morphological traits produced different results (58.75% European crab apple, 37.11% hybrids and 4.14% domesticated apple) compared to those based on genetic analysis (70.10% European crab apple, 21.64% hybrids and 8.26% domesticated apple). When genetic and morphological characteristics were combined, only 40.20% of the trees were classified as European crab apple, and an additional group of feral cultivars of domesticated apples (6.18%) was identified. The analysis revealed that hybridization with domesticated apple is taking place in all studied natural European crab apple populations; however, hybrids and feral cultivars only occur to a limited extent. When introducing European crab apple into forests in the future, only genetically verified forest reproductive material obtained exclusively from suitable seed stands should be used.

“Uprooted:” Anton Chekhov’s Influence on Frank O’Connor

Thus far perhaps the most acclaimed Irish practitioner of the short story, Frank O’Connor, attributes a lasting influence to Russian author Anton Chekhov when he considers the direction that the modern Irish short story was to take in the twentieth century. In The Lonely Voice: A Study of the Short Story (1963), O’Connor emphasized two particular themes in Chekhov’s short fiction that influenced his own stories: on the one hand, a preoccupation with loneliness; on the other, a belief that venial sin, or the adoption of a false personality, was “far more destructive” than mortal sin itself. In other writings, he expressed an interest in narrative technique and structure as he found them in Chekhov’s stories. The article explores O’Connor’s “Uprooted” from his collection Crab Apple Jelly (1944), a story about displaced intellectuals. My reading illustrates how the Irish writer was not only adopting Chekhov’s themes but was also experimenting with Chekhov’s character types and narrative techniques, particularly as found in the Russian author’s story “The Lady with the Dog.” At the same time, O’Connor developed a distinctly individual technique of his own within the Irish realist/naturalist short story tradition, making a lasting impact on the art of the modern Irish short story. Unlike his displaced Irish characters in “Uprooted,” he prefers to remain faithful to this tradition.

Mining new scab resistance alleles in apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) germplasm of Kashmir: Towards breeding scab free apple cultivars

Apple an important fruit crop in Kashmir ranks first in all the fruits grown here. It is commercially the most important horticultural crop grown in temperate parts of the world. To control scab in Apple a lot of fungicides are being used however, an alternative approach to fungicide application is the use of scab resistant cultivars as a genetic stock. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify more cultivars resistant to scab with maximum genes and can be used for apple breeding. In view of this, one hundred apple cultivars grown in Kashmir Valley were screened for the presence of Vf gene conferring resistance against apple scab. Eight trait linked markers were used so for and among them three markers like AL07, AM19, and CH05e03 proved to be useful to distinguish the resistant cultivars from the other apple germplasm. These three markers have amplified resistant fragments in five cultivars. Thus out of the total of 100 cultivars investigated in the present study, only five cultivars namely Shalimar I, Shalimar II, Dubhour, Gold Spur, and Crab apple were found to harbour resistant alleles which may be resistant to some of the races of V. inaequalis. Among the five cultivars harbouring the scab resistant alleles for some races of V. inaequalis, three cultivars namely, Shalimar I, Shalimar II, and Dubhour, which contain the maximum number of scab resistance alleles can be used as parents in further breeding programms to develop more resistant apple cultivars with high market acceptance.

Dihydrochalcone-derived polyphenols from tea crab apple (Malus hupehensis) and their inhibitory effects on α-glucosidase in vitro

α-Glucosidase inhibitory agents with unique carbon skeletons from tea crab apple (Malus hupehensis).