WEBVTT

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Have you ever walked into a grocery store


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and wondered where all those variety
of apples came from?

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You might find SnapDragon,

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Pixie Crunch,

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Cosmic Crisp,

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Jazz,

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or Ambrosia

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next to the more familiar
Red Delicious and Granny Smith.

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These delightfully descriptive names

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belong to just a handful of the over
7,500 apple varieties in the world.

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This huge diversity exists largely because
of humanity's efforts to bear new fruit.

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Fruit breeding is a way to fulfill
the expectations of farmers and consumers

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who seek specific qualities in an apple.

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On the one hand, farmers may want them
to be disease-resistant and to store well.

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On the other, consumers are swayed
by appearance, taste, and novelty.

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So, breeders have to consider everything

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from how well apples grow
in certain climates

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to their color, taste, and size.

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And sometimes finding the perfect
fit means breeding something new.

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To create apples 
with desirable characteristics,

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breeders first need to find parent
apples that carry those characteristics.

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Once the parents have been selected,

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they have to wait until the trees
bloom in the spring.

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The breeder takes the pollen
from one bloom, called the father,

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and transfers it by hand to the other
parent bloom, called the mother,

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through a process 
called cross-pollination.

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Once the mother bloom 
turns into an apple,

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the seeds are collected and then planted.

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It takes about five years for these seeds
to grow into trees that produce apples,

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but because of the way 
traits are inherited,

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all of the seedlings produced will have
different sets of genes

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and characteristics.

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This means that to achieve 
a desired quality,

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it takes a lot of offspring,

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not to mention patience 
on the breeder's part.

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When a seedling does bear fruit
with the desired qualities,

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it's selected for further evaluation.

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Of the original crossed seedlings,

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about one in every 5,000 makes it
to this prestigious stage.

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They're then sent to new farms

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where breeders can assess how various
climates and soil types

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affect the plant's growth.

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The fruit of the seedling 
and its many clones

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must then be collected and sampled
to ensure consistency.

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Breeders study about 45 traits
in an apple,

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like the texture 
and firmness of the flesh,

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when it ripens,

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how sugary its juice is,

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and how long it stays fresh.

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Over several years, they weed out
all the bad apples,

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selecting only those 
whose fruits are the best.

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These exclusive plants 
officially form the cultivar,

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or new apple variety.

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To ensure an exact copy of this cultivar,

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all apple trees must be grafted 
from the original seedling.

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Branches, called scion wood,

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are cut from the original tree 
and grown to generate more scion wood.

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Segments of these trees are then grafted
onto root stalk -

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that's the lower section of another tree

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that's been chosen 
from a different cultivar

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for its superior roots 
and growing ability.

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Finally, this fusion creates 
a new apple tree

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with the desired qualities.

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Each new plant takes up to four years

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before it starts producing 
the fruit we eat.

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Apple breeding may be a difficult art,
but it's accessible to all:

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universities,

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companies,

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and even individuals can create
new cultivars.

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But to fully own an apple, the breeder
faces a final challenge -

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naming the fruit.

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After a cultivar is patented,

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a breeder chooses a name
for its trademark.

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That final step grants them long-lasting
rights over the apple and its clones.

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That name must be completely original,

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and the catchier, the better, of course.

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With over 7,500 varieties and counting,

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that's why we have apples called
Pink Lady,

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Sweet Tango,

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Kiku,

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and EverCrisp.

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The more we work with nature's bounty
to breed new cultivars,

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the more creative and delectable
these names will become.