Antonovka

Central Russia's old folk apple, prized for its scent and hardiness; DNA shows Schmidt's Antonovka is the same variety

Antonovka, painted by Henry G. Van Deman in 1886 for the US Department of Agriculture. Henry G. Van Deman. U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705. Source; public domain.

Origin: Kursk, Russia, by 1826
Parentage: Selection; parents unknown Unknown: an old folk variety whose parentage has not been established
Uses: Dessert, Cooking, Juice
Picked: September, in Central Russia (mid-September) and Brogdale, Kent (early September)
Keeps: Up to 90 days
Skin: Greenish yellow when picked, turning yellow in store, with little or no blush and some russet in the stalk cavity
Flesh: Yellowish, crisp and juicy
Flavour: Sweet-sour with a slight excess of acid; strongly scented when ripe
Ploidy: Diploid
Also called: Antonovka Obyknovennaya; Common Antonovka; Antonowka; Antonovskoe yabloko; Schmidt's Antonovka; King of the Steppe; Possart's Nalivia

History

Antonovka is an old Russian apple of unknown parentage, a product of folk selection^1,3. The National Fruit Collection says that it arose in Kursk and was recorded in 1826². VNIISPK, the fruit-breeding institute at Orel, says that it still holds a leading place among the apples of central Russia and Belarus; it entered the Russian State Register in 1947^1,3. VNIISPK lists it as Антоновка Обыкновенная, Common Antonovka, and central Russia also grows Antonovka Sladkaya and other Antonovkas^1,3. In 1886 T. H. Hoskins described it as “the leading market apple in Russian cities”, planted in immense orchards and known as “the king apple of the steppes”⁵.

Offspring of Schmidt’s Antonovka were widely used in Western breeding as a source of scab resistance, but its identity was obscure. In 2014 Pikunova and colleagues showed with SSR and SNP markers that it is Common Antonovka, which Russian breeders have used widely in breeding for biotic and abiotic stresses³. SNP data confirm Antonovka as a parent of Konsta, with Lobo, and point to it as a parent of Juuso and Zimnaya Krasavica⁴.

The fruit

The fruit is of medium size or a little larger, round, slightly flattened and ribbed¹. It is greenish yellow when picked and turns yellow in store, with no blush or only a faint one, and russet in the stalk cavity¹. The yellowish flesh is juicy and sweet-sour, with a slight excess of acid: 9.22 per cent sugars and 1.0 per cent acids¹. Ripe fruit has a very strong, attractive scent, to which VNIISPK credits its popularity¹. The National Fruit Collection describes crisp, juicy flesh with an acid flavour that cooks well².

North of a line through Bryansk, Orel, Lipetsk and Michurinsk it counts as a winter apple and south of it as a late-autumn one¹. It is usually picked in mid-September and keeps for up to 90 days¹. At the National Fruit Collection it is picked in early September².

Growing

The tree is vigorous and grows large¹. It begins to bear in its seventh or eighth year after budding, regularly at first and later in alternate years¹. Average yields reach 20 tonnes a hectare, and single trees have given over 500 and even 1,000 kilograms¹. Its winter hardiness matches that of the hardiest domestic apples, and it is fairly resistant to disease, scab rising to a moderate level only in years of severe epidemics¹.

Uses

Antonovka is eaten fresh and made into juice, compote, jam, pastila and marmalade, and VNIISPK singles it out as especially good for soaking, мочение¹.

Where the sources disagree

Origin and date. The National Fruit Collection says Antonovka arose in Kursk and was recorded in 1826²; Pikunova and colleagues call it a cultivar “of unknown origin”³, and Muranty and colleagues date it to 1848⁴.
Worth. VNIISPK praises a hardy, heavy-cropping apple whose scent made it exceptionally popular¹. Judged in New York and England, it was “a Russian fruit of no practical value for this state” to Beach⁶, and to Bunyard “hardly worthy of retention”, with flesh “rather dry”⁷.

Family tree

Offspring in the atlas

Antonovka Grammovaya 600 Belarus, 1888
Pobeda Chernenko × Pepin Londondski; Russia, by 1953
Slavyanka × Ananas Reinette; Russia, 1899

Where Antonovka came from.

Sources

Apple: Antonovka Obyknovennaya (in Russian), All-Russian Research Institute of Fruit Crop Breeding (VNIISPK), Orel, variety catalogue. Supports: the name Антоновка Обыкновенная; an early-winter variety of unestablished parentage created by folk selection, which still holds a leading place in the apple assortment of central Russia and Belarus, and is also recommended for parts of northern Ukraine and the Volga region; entered in the Russian State Register in 1947; other Antonovkas of central Russia (Sladkaya, Belaya, Polutorafuntovaya); a vigorous, large tree; fruit of medium or above-medium size, round and slightly flattened, ribbed, greenish yellow when picked and yellow in store, without blush or with a faint one, russeted in the stalk cavity; flesh yellowish, juicy, sweet-sour "with some excess of acid"; a very strong, attractive scent behind its exceptional popularity; 9.22% sugars and 1.0% acids; a winter apple north of the Bryansk–Orel–Lipetsk–Michurinsk line and a late-autumn one south of it; usually picked in mid-September; keeps up to 90 days; eaten fresh and made into juice, compote, jam, pastila and marmalade, and especially valued for soaking; bears from the seventh or eighth year after budding, regularly at first and then periodically; average yields up to 20 t/ha, and single trees over 500 and even 1,000 kg; winter hardiness on a level with the hardiest domestic apples; fairly resistant to disease, scab rising to medium only in years of severe epidemics.
Antonovka (accession 1948-666), National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, Kent (Defra). Supports: "A Russian variety which arose in Kursk. Recorded in 1826"; crisp, juicy fruit with an acid flavour that cooks well; synonyms including Antonovka obyknovennaya, Antonowka, Antonovskoe yabloko, King of the Steppe and Possart's Nalivia; large, broad globose-conical fruit with prominent ribs; picked in early September.
'Schmidt's Antonovka' is identical to 'Common Antonovka', an apple cultivar widely used in Russia in breeding for biotic and abiotic stresses, A. Pikunova and others, Tree Genetics & Genomes 10: 261–271 (abstract), 2014. Supports: progenies of Schmidt's Antonovka widely used in Western breeding as a source of scab resistance; its identity obscure because of a series of Antonovka cultivars of different origins; shown by SSR and SNP data to be identical to Common Antonovka, "an old Russian cultivar of unknown origin", held at VNIISPK in Orel; Common Antonovka widely used in Russia in breeding for biotic and abiotic stresses.
Using whole-genome SNP data to reconstruct a large multi-generation pedigree in apple germplasm, H. Muranty and others, BMC Plant Biology 20: 2, with Additional files 1 and 3, 2020. Supports: Antonovka Obyknovennaja diploid (2n) and dated 1848 (Table S1); confirmed as a parent of Konsta with Lobo, and inferred as a parent of Juuso (with Lobo) and of Zimnaya Krasavica (with Delicious) (Table S3).
The Iron-Clad Tree Fruits, pp. 19–20, in Agriculture of Maine: Twenty-ninth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Maine Board of Agriculture, T. H. Hoskins, Maine Board of Agriculture (Sprague & Son, Augusta); Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library, 1886. Supports: Antonovka "the leading market apple in Russian cities", called "the king apple of the steppes"; immense orchards of it planted, very productive, quality "only fair".
The Apples of New York, vol. II, p. 6: Antonovka, S. A. Beach, New York Agricultural Experiment Station, Internet Archive, 1905. Supports: "A Russian fruit of no practical value for this state".
A Handbook of Hardy Fruits, vol. I, p. 17: Antonowka, E. A. Bunyard, John Murray, Internet Archive, 1920. Supports: flesh "white, loose grained, rather dry, aromatic"; "a very popular central Russian variety"; "hardly worthy of retention" and "best described as a late edition of White Transparent".