Selecting for crispness instrumentally in fruit from apple (Malus ×domestica) breeding programs is notoriously difficult. Most breeders rely on sensory assessment for this important characteristic. Following the 2009 harvest, we used a computerized penetrometer to assess firmness and texture of apple selections from the Washington State University's apple breeding program and 16 standard reference varieties. Data were compared with sensory data from the apple breeding team. In addition to the expected high correlations between the various firmness measures of the computerized penetrometer and the sensory firmness values, our data also show a significant correlation between the computerized penetrometer crispness value and the sensory crispness value, thus demonstrating the benefit from using this equipment rather than the industry standard Magness–Taylor penetrometer.

Fruit texture is a major target of apple (Malus domestica) breeding programs due to its influence on consumer preference. This multitrait feature is typically rated using sensory assessment, which is subjective and prone to biases. Instrumental measurements have predominantly targeted firmness of the outer region of fruit cortex using industry standard Magness–Taylor-type penetrometers, while other metrics remain largely unused. Additionally, there have been limited reports on correlating sensory attributes with instrumental metrics on many diverse apple selections. This report is the first to correlate multiyear historical fruit texture information of instrumental metrics and sensory assessment in an apple breeding program. Through 11 years of routine fruit quality evaluation at the Washington State University apple breeding program, physical textural data of 84,552 fruit acquired from computerized penetrometers were correlated with sensory assessment. Correlations among various instrumental metrics are high (0.63 ≤ r ≤ 1.00; P < 0.0001). In correlating instrumental outputs with sensory data, there is a significant correlation (r = 0.43; P < 0.0001) between the instrumental crispness value and sensory crispness. Additionally, instrumental hardness traits are significantly correlated (0.61 ≤ r ≤ 0.69; P < 0.0001) with sensory hardness. Outputs from two versions of computerized penetrometers were tested and shown to have no statistical differences. Overall, this report demonstrates potential use of instrumental metrics as firmness and crispness estimates for selecting apples of diverse backgrounds in a breeding program. However, in testing a large number and diversity of fruit, experimenters should perform data curation and account for lower limits/thresholds of the instrument.

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Breeding programs produce large datasets that require efficient management systems to keep track of performance, pedigree, geographical and image-based data. With the development of DNA-based screening technologies, more breeding programs perform genotyping in addition to phenotyping for performance evaluation. The integration of breeding data with other genomic and genetic data is instrumental for the refinement of marker-assisted breeding tools, enhances genetic understanding of important crop traits and maximizes access and utility by crop breeders and allied scientists. Development of new infrastructure in the Genome Database for Rosaceae (GDR) was designed and implemented to enable secure and efficient storage, management and analysis of large datasets from the Washington State University apple breeding program and subsequently expanded to fit datasets from other Rosaceae breeders. The infrastructure was built using the software Chado and Drupal, making use of the Natural Diversity module to accommodate large-scale phenotypic and genotypic data. Breeders can search accessions within the GDR to identify individuals with specific trait combinations. Results from Search by Parentage lists individuals with parents in common and results from Individual Variety pages link to all data available on each chosen individual including pedigree, phenotypic and genotypic information. Genotypic data are searchable by markers and alleles; results are linked to other pages in the GDR to enable the user to access tools such as GBrowse and CMap. This breeding database provides users with the opportunity to search datasets in a fully targeted manner and retrieve and compare performance data from multiple selections, years and sites, and to output the data needed for variety release publications and patent applications. The breeding database facilitates efficient program management. Storing publicly available breeding data in a database together with genomic and genetic data will further accelerate the cross-utilization of diverse data types by researchers from various disciplines.Database URL: http://www.rosaceae.org/breeders_toolbox