Sciearly

Apple

Variety Description

Varieties used for comparison: 'Royal Gala', 'Splendour' and 'Red Delicious'

Summary: 'Sciearly' is an apple variety which produces globose conical shaped fruit, whereas 'Red Delicious' has oblong conical shaped fruit. The fruit of 'Sciearly' are not as large as those of 'Splendour'. 'Sciearly' fruit have a high amount of bright pink to red overcolour in a blush pattern, while 'Splendour' has a high amount of pink and dark red flush with indistinct stripes. 'Red Delicious' has a high amount of dark red to purple flush with very weak stripes and 'Royal Gala' has a moderately low amount of red overcolour in strongly defined stripes with a weakly defined flush. In the Okanagan valley 'Sciearly' matures significantly earlier than 'Splendour' and 'Red Delicious'. 'Sciearly' differs from the other candidate variety 'Scired' in amount and colour of fruit overcolour and in maturity date. 'Sciearly' matures three to four weeks earlier than 'Scired' in Summerland, British Columbia.

Description:

'Sciearly' is a dessert apple variety which produces moderately vigourous, upright to spreading trees. The major fruit load is borne on spurs. One year old shoots have moderately shiny, brown bark, medium pubescence on the upper half and many small lenticels. The lateral buds are medium to large in size, with pointed tips and are adpressed to the shoot with a small bud support. The growing tip of the shoot is green. In cross section the shoot tip leaves are concave and have no pubescence on the upper side. The lower side of the shoot tip leaves is green with purple colouration on the veins and petiole. There is no leaf lobing. The fully expanded leaves of 'Sciearly' are medium sized and oriented upwards. The apex is acuminate, the margins are crenate and the upper side is dark green, weakly to moderately glossy and there is no anthocyanin colouration. The lower side of the leaf is weakly pubescent. Anthocyanin colouration on the veins is weak. The leaf petioles are short and the stipules are medium in size. Bud burst for 'Sciearly' is mid-season. The variety has medium to light pink flower buds and a green pedicel. The flowers are single with circular shaped petals that have touching petal margins. The petals are purplish pink on the upper and lower sides, and the colour fades to very light pink and nearly white as the flower ages.

'Sciearly' produces large to very large fruit that are symmetrical and globose conical in shape. Ribbing is medium to strong and crowning at the distal end is weak to medium. The eye is medium in size with a closed aperture. The sepals are medium to long and overlapping at the base. The eye basin of 'Sciearly' is shallow to medium in depth and narrow to medium in width. The fruit stalk is long and thick and the stalk cavity is medium to broad in width and medium in depth. The surface of the fruit is smooth and the skin is very waxy with a weak bloom. The skin is medium in thickness. The ground colour of the fully mature fruit is yellowish green and there is a high amount of bright pink to red overcolour in a blush pattern. There is a very low amount of russet on 'Sciearly', located around the stalk cavity. The lenticels are large, white and prominent. 'Sciearly' has cream to yellow coloured flesh and in cross-section the core line is strongly distinct. The locules are open. 'Sciearly' matures early to mid-season in the Okanagan valley and has good fruit setting. At maturity the seeds are brown and normal in shape. Browning of the flesh is weak one hour after being cut. The fruit flesh is coarse to intermediate in texture, juicy and firm. Sugar content in the fruit juice is high.

Origin & Breeding History: 'Sciearly' was selected from a population of seedlings derived from crossing the apple varieties 'Gala' and 'Splendour' in 1974. The selection was carried out at Havelock North, New Zealand. The selection criteria were red colour, eating quality, crispness and storage ability of the fruit. After selection, the variety was increased by the asexual propagation methods of budding and grafting.

Tests & Trials: Tests and trials for 'Sciearly' were conducted by the okanagan Plant Improvement Company Ltd., (PICO) at the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre in Summerland, British Columbia during 2003. The trials consisted of 5 trees of each variety, grafted onto M26 rootstock and planted in Field 10 at Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre. Measured characteristics were based on a minimum of 10 measurements.

Comparison tables for 'Sciearly' with reference varieties 'Royal Gala', 'Splendour' and 'Red Delicious'

Flower diameter (mm)

Colour of petal (RHS)

Fruit diameter (mm)

Percentage total sugars in fruit juice