Orchard trials at two undisclosed sites in east and west Kent could ultimately lead to a change in the varieties which dominate the Uk apple industry, predicts Dr Drew Reynolds, technical director of Worldwide Fruit.

"At the very least," he says, "it will introduce an ongoing selection of dessert varieties that will keep Worldwide Fruit's UK growers and their customers at the forefront of UK apple variety trialing." Reynolds is the spearhead of a variety research programme set up three years ago, following the formation of Worldwide Fruit (WWF) ñ a partnership between Geest, the 108 growers affiliated to Fruition, and Enza, which still represents more than 50 per cent of the New Zealand apple industry.

Accounting for 60 per cent of English apple production it has the critical mass to make a real impact in the future, says Reynolds. "In the shortñ term we have been supporting growers in planting key UK varieties, Cox and Royal Gala, but also developing UK Braeburn.

"Confidence has been gained in the last two years with good customer support and a research programme looking at clones, storage regimes and maturity." WWF sees itself as being in a unique position to access new varieties with its Enza, Geest and global relationships around the world. No less than 20 varieties each year are sent from these sources for preliminary evaluation by WWF and its customers.

While the fruit is judged for the normal criteria of taste, colour and shape, the key aspect is whether, having passed the selection, they are suitable for the UK climate. So if a variety gets the thumbs up at the preliminary stage it will go into the UK trial sites.

WWF already has varieties at this stage that are being exclusively monitored for specific customers, following positive comments at the preliminary review. These are evaluated for a minimum of three years during which time they are closely monitored and offered to multiple buyers for further scrutiny.

"In this way the industry can become more market orientated and react quickly to changing taste," says Reynolds, who in his early career was responsible for the top variety trial plots at HRI Brogdale.

The trials are seen as critical, as he confirms the UK industry's record of coming up with a home-grown winner or varieties that can be grown in both hemispheres has been poor.

"Cox and its variations remains the number one variety, but look at what has happened," he says.

"Because of the competition from other bi-coloured fruit, acreage has fallen so it could ultimately be in danger of becoming a niche variety". Growers, he adds, still need to find an alternative to Discovery, but he is very hopeful that some varieties seen at Hort Research, New Zealand, may offer a future solution.

"Varieties like Fiesta (Red Pippin) get treated as second cousins in the UK to the dominant variety, Cox. If the variety is not strong enough it gets pushed by the market to the end of the Cox season when arguably it is not at its best." Reynolds is concerned this may well happen with varieties like Meridian, unless a customer takes an exclusive interest and commits to selling the fruit when it is in peak condition.

So far the real success story has been with Royal Gala, discovered in New Zealand, now followed by increasing plantings of Braeburn, also from the same source. WWF is also evaluating UK Empire which originated in Canada, a range of Braeburn clones, and Tentation, bred in France.

"The future," he says, "lies in selecting the best from everywhere and when a market or customer is identified and committed, adapting quickly. Fruit growing and the right choice of variety is a tough business, but without it the industry will remain static." "The emphasis will be on marketing companies such as ourselves who are prepared to make the investment and take the risk in the initial stages in association with our retail customers. The end result is that our growers will gain far more confidence as they will, in effect, be planting fruit hopefully for an assured market." Just how long it will take for winners to appear will always be a matter for conjecture, but history shows that this is happening far faster than 20 years ago. Some, like Pink Lady, are now even being trialed in the UK, and have already made the quantum leap towards becoming mainstream varieties.

Reynolds already has high hopes that Jazz, a Gala/Braeburn hybrid, is on the way to success. "Initial planting in the UK is looking good," he reveals.

Meanwhile, he believes success will be conditioned by subtle changes taking place in apple retailing which are speeding the interest that multiple buyers are taking.

"Niche markets will become more important, as retailers seek to constantly create a point of difference and at the same time add value," he says.

"Varieties such as Granny Smith, Golden and Red Delicious have become commodities and such is the competitive nature in the high street I believe this is no longer the route that future selections will follow." Multiple retailers, he believes, will be far more interested in highlighting exclusivity over a period of three to four years, before there is sufficient fruit available for the open market. He says there have already been examples of this with Moonglo, and some of the Pacific range.

Growers are turning to apple 'clubs' as a way to introduce new apple varieties. The aims of which are to try and gain some control of volume, manage customer and price expectations as well as return much needed funds to the breeder and trial process.

Other options are to create licensing arrangements as has been seen in France with Honeycrunch which came out of the US and even went through a name change.

"We recognise the value of this and it is part of Worldwide Fruit's own strategy, but we will be going further by developing an even tighter strategy for our UK growers," Reynolds concludes.

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