The special characteristics of apple and pear production: setting the scene for their scientific study

Apples and pears are among the oldest of the world's fruit crops, figuring in both the Bible and the tales of Homer. They are by far the most important of the deciduous tree fruits, are widely grown in temperate and, increasingly, in tropical regions, and figure prominently in world trade.

The fruits of apples and pears are primarily grown for the fresh fruit market, which is much more remunerative than that for processing. O'Rourke (1994) noted that in the United States a thousand tons of apples qualifying for fresh sale would, on average, generate more than three times the revenue of a thousand tons sold for juice and that even within the fresh fruit category the most desirable fruits may sell for three or four times the price of the least desirable fruits. Moreover, apples and pears for fresh consumption, and also even in some processed forms, are marketed by cultivar name to a much greater extent than has been traditional for other fresh fruits and vegetables, and the different cultivars command different prices. The culture of apples and pears is, therefore, directed towards the production of fruits of named cultivars and to the production of fruits of high perceived quality within each cultivar. In general the cultivars do not come true-to-type when grown from seed and the necessary uniformity is achieved by clonal propagation.