A series of five brand new apples, named the Sweet Resistants, were unveiled by Italian fresh produce breeder Consorzio Italiano Vivaisti last week.

The varieties, named Gaia, Gemini, Renoir, Smeralda and Fujion, come from a programme that aims to find apples that taste good but at the same time have excellent yields, environment-friendly production and resistance to diseases including scab.

The apples are ready to be marketed and have similarities to cultivars already well-established on the global apple market.

The apples are already being produced at 44 test sites worldwide and by 2011, production yields are expected to be sufficient to allow the first commercial trials to take place.

Gaia and Gemini both resemble Royal Gala but are harvested three and eight days later respectively.

Renoir, meanwhile, is a russeted, green variety which bears a resemblance to Renetta but which can be harvested a week earlier.

Smeralda looks like Granny Smith but crops some 30 days earlier, while Fujion offers a potential three-day headstart on Fuji.

CIV breeder Michelangelo Leis said: “They are genetically new, not mutations of other varieties. What makes them special is that the fact that they are simultaneously resistant to scab and also sweet-tasting - existing resistant varieties are almost bitter-tasting and therefore not popular with most consumers…

“Compared to standard varieties, these trees are precocious in bearing fruit and generous and constant in their fruit yield.”

CIV president Mauro Grossi added: “These latest varieties will not be managed by a club system. We are open to considering and setting up all kinds of collaborative arrangements for their productive and commercial development.”