In New York, geneticists with the Agricultural Research Service are working with one of the ancestors of the world’s first apple trees from Kazakhstan to develop new apple rootstocks better equipped to resist pests and diseases. The results of crossbreeding with the Kazakhstan rootstock show remarkable resistance to diseases and pests when it’s grafted to make trees producing Fuji, Gala and Golden Delicious apples.
Most of today’s commercially-produced apples are from trees that were bred in two parts – the fruit-bearing branches and tree tops and the rootstock that forms the roots and lower trunk. Most U.S. apple trees have roots that are derived from trees that grew as far back as the 17th century and when all your trees grow on the same rootstock, it can make them all susceptible to the same diseases and pests, which can evolve, adapt and infect trees and tree roots that were previously immune.