Extended Pedigrees of Apple Cultivars from the University of Minnesota Breeding Program Elucidated Using SNP Array Markers

Apple ( Malus × domestica Borkh.) breeding at the University of Minnesota (UMN) has been ongoing continuously since 1908 when staff originally planted thousands seedlings from open-pollinated (OP) seeds collected regional orchards. The first cultivar program, ‘Minnehaha’, was introduced in 1920 and several others these OP followed over next 3 decades. Controlled crosses were initiated 1916, until time this publication, 28 cultivars have introduced. Historical records parentage, as recorded by notebooks 20th-century publications, used to inform decisions but might be incorrect indicated earlier explorations parentage using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Our objective elucidate extended pedigrees all available UMN apple program evaluations Mendelian errors shared haplotype length information based on data single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays. Sixteen 21 before ‘Honeycrisp’ (1991) had or incomplete that are now least partially elucidated. These include two most important 20th century: ‘Haralson’ (parents: ‘Malinda’ ‘Wealthy’) ‘Fireside’ ‘Wealthy’ ‘Northwest Greening’). ‘Wealthy’, a widely grown United States late 19th early centuries, frequent parent older cultivars. less than records. ‘Duchess Oldenburg’ (synonym ‘Borowitsky’) revealed an ancestor overwhelming importance program. It 27 cultivars, including grandparent 15 ‘Honeycrisp’.