Apple breeding in China

According to statistics from the National Apple Breeding Collaboration Group, the number of research institutions engaged in apple resource and breeding research in China has increased from 18 in 2008, to 26 in 2025 (Table 1). These institutions include Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Liaoning Institute of Pomology; Northwest A&F University; Research Institue of Pomology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, etc. The number of researchers has grown from 119 in 2008, to 178 in 2025, including 84 (47.19%) with doctoral degrees, and 75 (42.13%) with master's degrees. There are 118 people (66.29%) with senior professional titles, and 138 people (77.53%) were under the age of 50. The survey results show that research institutions in China focused on apple resources and breeding, and have developed a group of highly educated, young, well-structured, and professionally proficient scientific research teams.

In recent years, various breeding institutions have a large amount of breeding materials. According to the data provided by 26 institutions, by 2025, a total of 401,500 apple hybrid seedlings from 763 combinations are currently preserved in China, which is a significant increase compared to 450 combinations and 325,000 seedlings in 2008. On the basis of previous work, a total of 407 apple advanced selections have been selected so far, most of which remain under internal evaluation and have not yet entered wider regional trials or market release. Parental selection in apple breeding targets multiple traits, including organoleptic qualities, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and storage properties, among others. The main hybrid parents include varieties from the 'Fuji', 'Gala', 'Golden Delicious', 'Honeycrisp', 'Saiwaihong', and 'Jin Hong', etc. In recent years, advanced selections and new varieties developed by various institutions, such as 'Qin Cui', 'Rui Xue', 'Lu Li', etc, are also frequently used as parents.

Statistics show that from 2023 to 2025, excluding the China Agriculture Research System-Apple project, there are a total of 76 projects related to apple resources and breeding across various institutions, with a total project budget of CNY 66.34 million. Among them, there are 12 projects under the National Key Research and Development Program of China, totaling CNY 12.66 million; 13 projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, totaling CNY 11.26 million; and 52 other projects, totaling CNY 37.62 million.

In recent years, China has made remarkable progress in apple breeding. A large number of new varieties have emerged, some of which have been promoted and applied in production. The number of seedlings has been increasing year by year, the number of research and development personnel has grown and their structure has been optimized, and the breeding funds have been stable. This will help to continuously produce new varieties. In the future, China's apple breeding work still needs to be further strengthened in the following aspects: First, multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional collaboration should be carried out. Currently, research is mainly focused on conventional breeding, while studies in social economics and molecular breeding are insufficient. For instance, molecular techniques like marker-assisted selection could be systematically integrated into conventional programs to accelerate the improvement of complex traits. Second, comprehensive and in-depth research should be carried out, especially emphasizing the comprehensive evaluation and innovation of germplasm resources, commercial evaluation of varieties, and consumer testing, etc. This necessitates establishing consensus on priority trait suites for evaluation, which may include market-driven and resilience-oriented characteristics. Third, it is necessary to attach importance to fundamental work, such as evaluating traits and standardizing observation data, to facilitate future intelligent breeding.