Ana ppl

eisa ned i
blefr
uitproducedbya nappletree(Ma lusdome st
ica)
. Appl
e
tr
eesa r
ec ult
ivat
edwo rldwideanda rethemo stwi del
yg rowns peciesinthe
genusMa lus.Thetreeori
ginat
edinCe nt
ralAsia,whereitswildancestor
,Ma l
us
si
eversi
i,
iss t
il
lfoundtoday.Appleshavebeeng rownf orthousandsofy ear
sin
AsiaandE uropea ndwe reb r
oughttoNo rthAme ri
cab yE ur
opeanc oloni
sts.
Appleshavereli
giousandmy thol
og i
calsi
gnificanceinma nycult
ures,i
ncludi
ng
Norse, Greek, and European Ch r
ist
ian t
radit
ion.

Applesgrownfroms eedtendtobev er
yd i
ffer
entfromthoseofthei
rp ar
ents,
an d
theresul
tantf
rui
tfrequent
lylacksdesir
edc haract
eri
sti
cs.Gener
a l
ly
,app l
ecult
i-
varsarepropagat
edb yclonalgr
a f
ti
ngo ntorootst
ocks.Appl
etreesg r
ownwi th-
outrootst
ockstendtob elargerandmu chs l
owertofrui
taft
erp l
a nt
ing.Root-
stocksareusedtocontrolt
hes peedof gr
owt handthesizeoftheresult
ingtr
ee,
al
lowing f
or easi
er h ar
vest
ing.

Therea r
emo r
et han7,500k nownc ul
ti
varsofapp l
es.Diff
erentcul
tivar
sa rebred
forvari
oustastesandu ses,incl
udingcooking,eat
ingraw, andciderproducti
o n.
Treesa ndf
ruitarep r
o netoan umbero ff
un gal
,ba ct
eri
al,andp estprob l
ems ,
wh i
chc anbecontrol
ledbyan umb eroforgani
ca ndn on-or
gan i
cme ans.In2 010,
thefrui
t'
sgenomewa sseq uencedasp ar
tofresearchond i
seasec ontr
olan dse-
l
ec t
ive breedi
n g in a ppl
e producti
o n.

Worl
dwidepr
oduct
ionofappl
esin2018wa s86mi
ll
iont
onnes,wi
thChi
naa c-
count
ing for near
ly hal
f of t
he total
.[
3]