Developing fruit cultivars for organic production systems: A review with examples from apple and strawberry

Abstract

The amount of fruit and vegetables produced under organic production systems, irrespective of how "organic" is delimited, has been steadily increasing. Organic production is largely based on cultivars that were originally developed for conventional production systems. The prospects of breeding specifically for organic systems are intriguing. One approach is identifying the major constraints with which organic growers must contend (often diseases or insect pests) and then incorporating stable genetic resistance. A more complex approach is to define an organic crop ideotype and derive an index of traits as a selection criterion. How effective are these methods expected to be for improving clonally-propagated fruit crops? In addition to the importance of the breeding goals, the technologies employed are also of concern. The topic will be examined with special reference to breeding strawberries and apples.