PremA17

An early yellow-and-red apple from a 1995 cross in Hawke's Bay; its fruit is sold under the trade mark Smitten

Origin: Havelock North, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, 1995
Raised by: Allan White
Parentage: A045R13T007 × A020R02T167 Two numbered, unpatented selections, A045R13T007 (seed parent) and A020R02T167 (pollen parent), as the US patent and the Canadian rights record give them. Prevar says the apple was bred from Gala, Braeburn, Falstaff and Fiesta, without placing them in the pedigree. Breeders' records; no DNA check among the sources read.
Uses: Dessert
Picked: February, in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand
Keeps: In good condition after 70 days in cold storage (US patent)
Skin: Yellow to yellow-green, with a red blush and stripes over part of the surface; some russet around the stalk
Flesh: White to cream, crisp, firm to very firm, moderately juicy
Sold as: Smitten (a trade mark)

History

PremA17 was raised from a controlled cross made in 1995 in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, at the research institute now called Plant & Food Research^1,2. Both parents were numbered, unpatented selections: A045R13T007 bore the seed and A020R02T167 gave the pollen^1,2. Prevar says that the apple was bred from Gala, Braeburn, Falstaff and Fiesta⁴. The breeder was Allan White^1,2. The seedling was chosen for the look, flavour and texture of its fruit, and was first propagated by budding at Havelock North^1,2.

Prevar applied for a United States plant patent in February 2010, granted in December 2011; the assignment records show the rights passing to it from HortResearch, the institute’s earlier name¹. Australia granted plant breeder’s rights in 2018, to run until November 2043³, and Canada in November 2020, until November 2045². Prevar lists Smitten among its brands⁴, and the OECD’s list of apple varieties gives Smitten as its trade mark⁵.

The fruit

In the patent’s description, from three-year-old trees at Havelock North, the fruit is globose, about 7.6 cm wide and as high, without ribs¹. The yellow skin carries red stripes and a red blush over about a quarter of its surface, and the flesh is white, crisp and moderately juicy, with a weak aroma¹. The New Zealand trials of 2014–16, on which the Canadian description rests, found medium-sized, obloid fruit with moderate ribs, a yellow-green ground, a solid red flush with faint stripes, a medium area of russet around the stalk and on the cheeks, and firm to very firm cream flesh². Prevar describes a yellow apple with a pink-red blush, set apart by its firm texture, early harvest and excellent storage life⁴. It is a dessert apple¹.

In Hawke’s Bay the tree flowers in the last week of September, and the fruit is picked in the first week of February, two weeks before Royal Gala (which the patent also calls Tenroy Gala) and earlier than either parent: A045R13T007 is picked in late February or early March, and A020R02T167 in the third week of February¹. The patent found the fruit still in good condition after 70 days in cold storage¹.

Growing

The patent describes a tree of medium vigour and spreading habit, bearing on spurs and long shoots and hardy in Hawke’s Bay; it knew of no special pollination needs, and under resistance to diseases and pests it records “none observed”¹. The 2014–16 trials found a tree of medium to strong vigour and upright habit that fruited on spurs only; it began to flower very early to early, and its fruit was ready to eat early to mid-season².

Where the sources disagree

Habit and bearing. The patent describes a spreading tree of medium vigour that bears on spurs and long shoots¹; the New Zealand trials of 2014–16 found an upright tree of medium to strong vigour bearing on spurs only².
Shape and flesh. The patent gives globose fruit without ribs and with white flesh¹; the trials found obloid, moderately ribbed fruit with cream flesh².

Family tree

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

PremA17 New Zealand, 1995
- Seed parent A045R13T007
- Pollen parent A020R02T167

Where PremA17 came from.

Sources

US Plant Patent 22,356: Apple tree named 'PremA17', Allan G. White, for Prevar Limited; United States Patent and Trademark Office, via Google Patents, 2011-12-20. Supports: PremA17 created in a planned breeding programme in Hawke's Bay from a controlled cross of A045R13T007 ("not patented, seed parent") and A020R02T167 ("not patented, pollen parent"); selected as a single plant from the seedling population "for its attractive fruit and its excellent flavor and texture"; harvest in the first week of February in Hawke's Bay, earlier than its parents (A045R13T007 in late February or early March, A020R02T167 in the third week of February, with Royal Gala), and "2 weeks before 'Tenroy Gala'", both Royal Gala and Tenroy Gala being cited as US Plant Patent 4,121; first budded at Havelock North; inventor Allan G. White; filed by Prevar Ltd on 24 February 2010 and granted on 20 December 2011; the assignment records, from HortResearch (The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand) to Prevar, and the change of HortResearch's name to The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research; observations of three-year-old trees at Havelock North: a tree of medium vigour, spreading, bearing on spurs and long shoots, hardy in Hawke's Bay; flowering in the last week of September; "No special pollination requirements known"; fruit 7.6 cm in diameter and 7.6 cm high, globose, without ribbing; yellow ground colour with a red stripe and red blush over about 25% of the surface; flesh crisp, of medium juiciness, white; aroma weak; "good condition after 70 days in storage at ±0.5° C"; disease and pest resistance "None observed"; market use dessert.
PremA17 (plant breeders' rights application 14-8343), Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Plant Breeders' Rights Office. Supports: holder Prevar Limited, Hastings, New Zealand; breeder Allan White, Havelock North; a controlled cross of A045R13T007 (female) and A020R02T167 (male) "in 1995" at The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research, Hawke's Bay; selected for its fruit appearance, texture and flavour; application of 30 May 2014, rights granted on 4 November 2020 and ending on 4 November 2045; the description taken from the UPOV technical examination for New Zealand application APP182, with trials at Plant & Food Research's Cultivar Centre, Havelock North, from 2014 to 2016: a tree of medium to strong vigour, upright, bearing on spurs only, beginning to flower very early to early, with early to mid-season eating maturity; fruit medium-sized, obloid, moderately ribbed; yellow-green ground colour, a medium area of red solid flush with weakly defined narrow to medium stripes, a medium area of russet around the stalk and on the cheeks; flesh firm to very firm, cream.
Plant Varieties Journal, vol. 31, no. 4 (quarter four 2018), p. 312: Grants, Malus domestica 'PremA17', IP Australia, Plant Breeder's Rights Office, 2018. Supports: PremA17 among the grants of plant breeder's rights in the fourth quarter of 2018: application 2011/110, applicant Prevar Ltd, certificate 5728, expiry date 13 November 2043.
Our portfolio: Smitten, Prevar Limited. Supports: Smitten, marked as a registered trade mark, among Prevar's brands: "Once bitten, forever Smitten"; "The Smitten apple was traditionally bred from Gala, Braeburn, Falstaff and Fiesta apples"; a yellow base with a pink/red blush; differentiated by its "amazingly firm texture, early harvest, and excellent storage life".
International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables: Apples, pp. 49 and 57: Non-Exhaustive List of Apple Varieties, OECD Publishing, Paris (explanatory brochure on the UNECE standard for apples, FFV-50, 2020 version), 2021. Supports: a list whose fourth column gives known trade marks under which a variety may be marketed, "for information only", the first three columns being meant for varietal names and synonyms, not trade marks (p. 49); Smitten given as the trade mark of Prem A17 (p. 57).