CAHNRS Network Sites > MyFruitTree Project > Why MyFruitTree matters

Why MyFruitTree matters

Valuing U.S. apple heirlooms

Many thousands of apple cultivars exist in the U.S., with more being imported or created each year. Those that were first introduced (selected, propagated, and produced) more than about a century ago are considered “heirlooms”. Each U.S. apple heirloom cultivar represents a unique option for cultivation, especially for small-scale commercial enterprises and homeowners. Each U.S. apple heirloom cultivar produces fruit with a certain flavor, appearance, season, shelf life, and storability potential. Their trees have suitabilities to certain growing conditions and climates and have susceptibilities and resistances to various pests and diseases. U.S. apple heirlooms are also the wider genepool from which most of the ancestry of our modern apple cultivars arose – and they offer ongoing breeding value.

Cultivar identity is important

Apple cultivar names are important. These names are attached to genetically distinct, clonally propagated individuals that grow into trees and provide fruit of certain expected kinds and within a predictable range of performance. Each cultivar has its own historical threads of origin, introduction, cultivation, and genetic legacy to date. The tapestry of stories and pedigree of some cultivars is rich, especially those perpetuated for centuries. Besides those in industrial-scale production, hundreds of millions of apple trees grow in the U.S. Only a few thousand labeled cultivars are in U.S. collections (but some are synonyms and some are mislabeled). When names of trees are forgotten or mislabeled, their historical significance is lost or confused. Misidentified and unlabeled apple trees are common, which impedes utilization for research, breeding, and cultivation, and hinders long-term preservation. Experts estimate up to a thousand “lost” cultivars are clinging to life somewhere, such as in old orchards and homesteads. Apple cultivar identification via phenotyping is insufficient to distinguish among most existing cultivars.

MyFruitTree’s contribution

Focusing on the U.S. genepool, WSU’s MyFruitTree project provides the public with an objective basis for cultivar identification via DNA fingerprinting. This project draws upon genotypic data collected from thousands of apple cultivars and their descendants growing across the U.S. and beyond. This base is expanded by crowdsourced DNA fingerprinting of trees from cultivar collection managers, park and forest managers, orchard owners, lost apple hunters, historians, breeders, researchers, commercial growers and nursery managers, and other apple tree owners and enthusiasts.

The project helps reconnect lost names to trees growing in collections, recently planted orchards and nurseries, old orchards, old homesteads, backyards, and other natural, agricultural, and urban settings. Results from MyFruitTree can be crucial to identify valuable trees, helping us to document, preserve, utilize, and value them. In some cases, this critical information can save rare cultivars before they are lost forever.

MyFruitTree’s DNA testing results that are reported publicly, whether in aggregate or about specific trees, do not include specific, personal information (unless participants explicitly agree otherwise).

MyFruitTree recently helped the Lost Apple Project bring back to life the “holy grail” of lost cultivars, Walbridge! See these articles:

Some other recent examples of MyFruitTree’s collaborations and impact:

Discovery in the U.S. of Drap d’or de Bretagne, a genetic founder of U.S. cultivars and trees, collaborating with our Maine Heritage Orchard friends: