The World of Apples

Apple varieties, China

Huashuo

Bred in Zhengzhou from Meiba and Huaguan, an early August apple put forward as a Chinese-bred alternative to Gala

History

Huashuo (华硕) was bred by the apple-breeding group of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences’ Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute2,4. People’s Daily and Dong and colleagues give its parents as Meiba and Huaguan2,3, and Shi and colleagues, writing in English, as Huaguan and American No. 84. Huaguan was itself one of the institute’s apples, a cross of Golden Delicious and Fuji approved in Henan in 19943. Huashuo was approved as an improved forest-tree variety in Henan in 2009, and in 2012 it won a second-class Henan science and technology progress award1,3.

In January 2016 People’s Daily reported that Huashuo had passed national approval and called it a major advance for Chinese apple breeding: China’s early-to-mid-season apples were then mostly the foreign Gala, which Huashuo might replace2. Its planting across China had by then passed 2,000 hectares (30,000 mu) in all2. Dong and colleagues group it with recent Chinese varieties that combine good quality and strong resistance with ready flowering and no need for bagging, and recommend it as a parent for early apples3. The institute recommends it for Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei and Shandong, the old course of the Yellow River, and parts of Yunnan, Sichuan, Tibet and Xinjiang1.

The fruit

The fruit is large: 242 grams on average by the institute’s figures1, and 241 grams, about the size of the late-ripening Fuji, by People’s Daily’s2. The flesh is yellowish white, medium-fine, crisp and juicy, with 13.1 per cent soluble solids and 0.34 per cent acid, and a rich, aromatic, sweet-sour flavour1. The skin is red3, much darker than that of its sister line Huarui, because its peel builds up more anthocyanin pigment, chiefly cyanidin 3-galactoside4.

In central China it ripens in early August, close to Gala2. It does not drop before harvest and can be picked early or left to ripen fully1,2. It does not turn mealy in store and has a long shelf life1; People’s Daily judged its keeping far better than that of any other apple ripening at the same time2.

Growing

People’s Daily described it as disease-resistant2. The institute advises planting it with other main varieties that flower at the same time, but not with Huarui1. Shi and colleagues studied trees grown at Zhaotong, in Yunnan4.

Where the sources disagree

  • Breeder. Dong and colleagues’ table credits Huashuo to the academy’s Institute of Pomology, which it lists apart from the Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute3; Zhengzhou lists Huashuo among its own varieties1, and People’s Daily and Shi and colleagues name Zhengzhou as the breeder2,4.
  • Keeping. More than 20 days at room temperature, by the institute1; about 30 days, by People’s Daily2. Both give three months in cold storage.
  • Season. Dong and colleagues class it as early-ripening3; People’s Daily as early-to-mid-season2.

Family tree

Parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, as the entries in the atlas record them.

Huashuo
Where Huashuo came from.

Sources

  1. Huashuo (in Chinese), Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences: new apple varieties. Supports: Huashuo (华硕) among the institute's new apple varieties: approved as an improved forest-tree variety in Henan in 2009; a second-class Henan Province science and technology progress award in 2012; large fruit, no pre-harvest drop, no mealiness after long storage, long shelf life; average weight 242 g; flesh yellowish white, medium-fine, crisp, juicy; 13.1 per cent soluble solids, 0.34 per cent titratable acid; sweet-sour, rich and aromatic; keeps more than 20 days at room temperature and 3 months in cold storage; to be planted with other main varieties flowering at the same time, except Huarui; suited to Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, Shandong, the old course of the Yellow River, and parts of Yunnan, Sichuan, Tibet and Xinjiang; contact Yan Zhenli.
  2. "Huashuo" passes national approval and may become one of China's main apples (in Chinese), Jiang Jianke, People's Daily; reprinted by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 2016-01-21. Supports: Huashuo, a disease-resistant, high-quality, early-to-mid-season apple bred by the apple-breeding group of the CAAS Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, had recently passed national approval as a forest-tree variety; a major advance in Chinese apple breeding, changing a situation in which early-to-mid-season apples were mainly the foreign Gala, which it might replace; bred from Meiba and Huaguan; ripens in early August in central China, close to Gala; 241 g, about the size of the late Fuji; keeps about 30 days at room temperature without turning mealy and 3 months in cold storage, far longer than any variety ripening at the same time; can be picked early or when fully ripe; planted on more than 30,000 mu (about 2,000 ha) in all across China.
  3. Pedigree analysis and breeding inspiration of apple cultivars in China (in Chinese), Zhidan Dong, Shangwei Song and others, Scientia Agricultura Sinica 53(21):4485–4496, 2020. Supports: appendix table S1: Huashuo (华硕), approved in Henan in 2009, Meiba × Huaguan, red skin, large fruit, early, credited to the CAAS Institute of Pomology (中国农业科学院果树研究所), where the table credits the institute's other varieties to the Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute; Huaguan, Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Golden Delicious × Fuji, approved in Henan in 1994; in the text, Huashuo among recently bred varieties with good quality, strong resistance, ready flowering and no need for bagging, and recommended as a parent for breeding early apples.
  4. Anthocyanin accumulation and molecular analysis of correlated genes by metabolomics and transcriptomics in sister line apple cultivars, Caiyun Shi, Li Liu, Zhifeng Wei, Junwei Liu, Ming Li, Zhenli Yan and Dengtao Gao, Life 12(8):1246, PubMed Central, 2022. Supports: Huashuo "a hybrid of Huaguan and American No.8 apples cultivated by the Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute"; much darker red than its sister line Huarui, owing to greater accumulation of anthocyanins in the peel, chiefly cyanidin 3-O-galactoside, rather than different kinds; trees studied at Zhaotong, Yunnan.

  • Hanfu

    A cold-hardy cross of Dongguang and Fuji from Shenyang, grown on about 26,700 hectares around that city by 2016

    China, bred from 1978

  • Huaguan

    Bred in Zhengzhou, China, from Golden Delicious and Fuji; sold in North America under the trade mark Autumn Glory

    China, by 1990

  • Qinguan

    Bred in Shaanxi from Golden Delicious and Jiguan, it once covered 150,000 hectares of Chinese orchards

    China, by 1967