Apple Alenushkino

Summer apple variety of intensive type, selected at the North Caucasus Regional Research Institute of Horticulture and Viticulture. Obtained in 1975 by crossing Jonathan and Parmentier Winter Gold using mutation selection method. Breeder S. N. Artiukh.

Since 1999, the variety Alenushkino has been included in the State Register of Selection Achievements of Russia for use in commercial and hobby orchards of the North Caucasus. The variety has started spreading throughout southern Russia. It is promising for southern regions of central Russia.

Medium-sized tree with a rounded, fairly dense crown. Bark of trunk and main branches is gray-brown. Branches emerge from the trunk at a sharp angle, lower branches droop to nearly vertical. Fruit set is concentrated on buds, spurs, one-year shoots, less so on fruiting spurs.

Shoots are medium or thick, gray, hairy, with sparse rounded lenticels. Leaves are small, elongated-oval, with oval base and tapering tip, single- or double-toothed or serrated, flat or slightly undulated, slightly curved. Leaf surface is matte, finely wrinkled, green with a steel tint, densely hairy, gray. Leaf blade forms an acute angle with the stem — 30-40°, folds more tightly in heat, causing the crown to appear greenish-gray. Petiole is medium-sized, pinkish underneath, sometimes the color extends onto the leaf vein, stipules are usually lanceolate or awl-shaped. Buds are oval, large, densely hairy. In the nursery, the stem is weakly knotted, sometimes branched, bark is grayish-brown with medium-sized rounded white lenticels.

Flowers are medium, plate-like, white with a cream tint, with short hairy stigmas, stigmas level with or slightly above the pollen anthers. Buds are pink. Flowering is medium-early.

Fruits (see picture) are above-average size, single, moderately flattened, weakly conical at the top. Surface is smooth. Main color at harvest is light green, with dense dark-red carmine blush on the sun-exposed side of the fruit. Skin is thin, firm, smooth, with numerous light-brown subcutaneous dots, slight waxy bloom and fine rust-colored threads, although these do not spoil the fruit appearance. Storage enhances oily texture. Deep, but not very wide, depression with gray rust. Fruit stem is thin or medium, in side fruits barely protrudes from the depression. Calyx is half-open, tube is wide, inverted conical or funnel-shaped. Central cavity is small, connected to seed chambers by a narrow slit. Seeds are gray, cup-shaped, with pointed tip.

Flesh is creamy-yellow, firm, very juicy, aromatic, balanced sweet-sour flavor. Chemical composition of fruits: dry matter — 12-14.7%, sugars — 9-11.5%, titratable acids — 0.4-0.6%, ascorbic acid — 4-7 mg/100g, P-active substances — 82-90 mg/100g.

Harvesting period in the Kuban's Krasnodar region — end of July. Storage duration — two months. If harvesting is delayed, fruits drop off due to wind. Fruit quality is high — 90-94%.

Fruits are consumed fresh and in processed products: juices, purees, chips.

Variety has partial self-fertility — up to 9%. Best pollinators: Melba, Welles, Vadimovka, Slava Peremozhets.

Trees begin fruiting on the 2nd-3rd year after planting, commercial yield appears on the 4th-5th year. With high agronomic care, fruiting is non-periodic. Productivity is average, in the first eight years — 232 centners per hectare on a low-growing rootstock (1000 trees/ha). In subsequent years — from 400 to 600 centners per hectare. Fruit transportability is high.

Heat- and drought resistance, frost- and winter hardiness — in the Kuban zone of Krasnodar region are high. Variety is resistant to scab, slightly affected by powdery mildew.

Advantages of the variety: early fruiting, non-periodic, high ecological adaptability, yield, fruit quality of summer variety, intensive type.

Disadvantages of the variety: fruit drop due to wind if harvesting is delayed: fruits must be harvested before the main color shifts to yellow tones.

In breeding, variety Alenushkino — donor traits: winter-drought resistance, polygenic resistance to scab.