Prima

The first apple named by the Purdue–Rutgers–Illinois scab-resistance programme, in 1970; PRI begins its name

Origin: Urbana, Illinois, United States, 1957
Raised by: Purdue–Rutgers–Illinois (PRI) cooperative breeding programme
Parentage: PRI 14-510 × N.J. 123249 As recorded by the breeders in 1970, the seedling 14-510 was the seed parent and the New Jersey selection N.J. 123249 the pollen parent. SNP data confirm PRI 14-510 as a parent (Larsen and others, 2025); the second parent was not identified there.
Uses: Dessert
Picked: September, in Brogdale, Kent
Keeps: About a month in cold storage
Skin: Yellow, 60 to 95 per cent bright red, mostly as a blush; smooth, waxy and thick
Flesh: Cream to yellow, medium-grained, crisp and juicy; softens after three or four weeks in store
Flavour: Rich and subacid to sprightly, with a pleasant aroma
Ploidy: Diploid
Also called: Co-op 2; PRI 1225-100

History

Prima was the first variety released by the cooperative scab-resistance programme of Purdue, Rutgers and Illinois, whose initials begin its name¹. J. R. Shay of Purdue University and L. F. Hough, then at the University of Illinois, began the programme in 1945^1,2. Its resistance came from Malus floribunda 821, a species with fruit about 1 cm across from C. S. Crandall’s collection at Illinois: after a scab epidemic in 1943, Hough found that a family bred from two M. floribunda 821 × Rome Beauty hybrids split about evenly into resistant and susceptible seedlings, and the resistance was traced to a single dominant factor, named Vf². The programme then crossed resistant seedlings, generation after generation, with good but susceptible apples².

Prima came from a cross made in 1957 between the seedling 14-510, a child of Golden Delicious and F2 26829-2-2, as seed parent, and the New Jersey selection N.J. 123249, whose ancestry includes Melba, Wealthy, Starr and Red Rome¹. Planted in 1958 at the Illinois Experiment Station in Urbana, it first fruited in August 1963 and was tested as Co-op 2 before its release in 1970^1,2,4. SNP data confirm 14-510 as a parent of Prima, and Golden Delicious and F2 26829-2-2 as the parents of 14-510⁵. Prima carries one copy of Vf¹.

More than 70,000 Prima trees were sold in the United States between 1974 and 1990, and by 1992 there were commercial plantings of 800 to 1,000 trees in the Midwest; with Liberty it was then the most widely planted scab-resistant apple in the country². Breeders around the world used it as a parent, especially in eastern Europe².

The fruit

The fruit is medium to large, 70–76 mm across, slightly flattened, lopsided and irregular^1,2. Its smooth, waxy, thick skin is yellow, 60 to 95 per cent covered in bright red, mostly as a blush¹. The cream to yellow flesh is medium-grained, crisp and juicy, with a rich, subacid flavour and a very pleasant aroma^1,2; the National Fruit Collection notes a good “fruity” flavour⁴.

Prima ripens about a month before Delicious, with little drop before it is ripe¹; at Brogdale in Kent it is picked in late September⁴. It keeps its flavour and crispness for a month or more at about 1 °C¹, but the flesh softens after three or four weeks in store, and by 1992 its storage life was often considered inadequate².

Growing

The tree is vigorous and spreading, and flowers in midseason, a few days before Golden Delicious¹. In greenhouse tests it shows only a “class 3” reaction to scab, with a few restricted sporulating lesions, and a little sporulation occasionally appears on its leaves when conditions favour infection; even so it has stayed highly resistant in the field wherever it has been grown². It has good resistance to powdery mildew and moderate to good resistance to fire blight, but is susceptible to cedar-apple rust^2,3. In 1992 its breeders listed its faults: sensitivity to winter cold, with sun scald on exposed bark; poor colour inside the canopy; bitter pit; and uneven ripening that calls for two or more pickings². The USDA’s record notes biennial cropping³. Prima is diploid^3,5.

Uses

Prima is a dessert apple¹. In 1992 its breeders saw a place for it as an early fresh-market substitute for Jonathan in the American Midwest and eastern Europe, and noted its use as a pollinator in blocks of other varieties².

Where the sources disagree

Season. About a month before Delicious, or three weeks before Jonathan, at its release¹; four to five weeks before Delicious in the breeders’ 1992 summary²; late September, two weeks before Delicious, in R. D. Way’s 1992 note in the USDA’s inventory³.
Hardiness. At its release it was expected to suit the Midwest and northern areas¹; by 1992 its breeders called it prone to winter injury and unsuitable for the far north².
Eating quality. “Excellent” in the release description¹; “fair to good” in Way’s note³.

Family tree

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

Prima United States, 1957
- Seed parent PRI 14-510
- Pollen parent N.J. 123249

Where Prima came from.

Sources

Prima—an Early Fall Red Apple with Resistance to Apple Scab, D. F. Dayton, J. B. Mowry, L. F. Hough, Catherine H. Bailey, E. B. Williams, Jules Janick and F. H. Emerson, Fruit Varieties and Horticultural Digest 24(1): 20–22, American Pomological Society, 1970. Supports: a new red cultivar from the cooperative programme of the Illinois, New Jersey and Indiana Agricultural Experiment Stations, begun in 1945 by J. R. Shay, then of Purdue University, and L. F. Hough, then of the University of Illinois; "the first cultivar to be released under this cooperative effort", the prefix PRI "an acrostic" of Purdue, Rutgers, Illinois; formerly Co-op 2, breeding number 1225-100; the seedling planted in 1958 at the Illinois Experiment Station, Urbana, from the cross of 14-510 (seed parent) and N.J. 123249 (pollen parent) made in 1957; the pedigree (Fig. 2): 14-510 from Golden Delicious and F2 26829-2-2 (from two Rome Beauty × Malus floribunda 821 seedlings), N.J. 123249 from N.J. 117637 (Melba × N.J. 130, itself Wealthy × Starr) and N.J. 12 (Red Rome × Melba); heterozygous for Vf from M. floribunda 821; first fruiting in August 1963; a spreading, vigorous tree flowering in midseason a few days before Golden Delicious, with field resistance to fire blight and apple blotch; yellow ground with 60 to 95 per cent bright red, mainly as a blush; ripening about 3 weeks before Jonathan or a month before Delicious, with little drop before maturity; rich flavour and crisp texture kept a month or more at 34 °F; fruit slightly oblate, lopsided and irregular, 7–7.6 cm across; skin smooth, waxy, thick; flesh medium-grained, crisp, juicy, subacid and rich, with a very pleasant aroma; quality "Excellent"; "Excellent dessert apple"; expected to suit the Midwest and northern areas.
Breeding Apples for Scab Resistance: 1945–1990, J. A. Crosby, J. Janick, P. C. Pecknold, S. S. Korban, P. A. O'Connor, S. M. Ries, J. Goffreda and A. Voordeckers, Fruit Varieties Journal 46(3): 145–166, American Pomological Society, 1992-07. Supports: the programme begun in 1945 by J. R. Shay at Purdue and L. F. Hough, then at Illinois, "known by the acronym PRI"; resistance first identified by Hough in Malus floribunda 821 (fruit about 1 cm across) in the collection assembled by C. S. Crandall at Illinois, after the scab epidemic of the cool, wet spring of 1943, in a progeny of (M. floribunda 821 × Rome Beauty) × (M. floribunda 821 × Rome Beauty) segregating about 1 resistant to 1 susceptible; a single dominant gene, named Vf; repeated crosses with high-quality susceptible apples (pp. 146–147); Prima the first scab-resistant cultivar, with only a class 3 reaction ("few restricted sporulating lesions") and occasional limited leaf sporulation under optimal conditions, yet a high level of field resistance wherever grown (pp. 147–148); a substitute for Jonathan in the Midwest and eastern Europe; susceptible to winter cold injury and sun scald, unsuitable for far northern areas; more than 70,000 trees sold in the US in 1974–1990, plantings of 800 to 1000 trees in the Midwest; much used as a parent worldwide, of special interest in eastern Europe; used as a pollinizer in solid blocks of other cultivars (p. 150); Table 1 (p. 151): Co-op 2 (PRI 1225-100 = PRI 14-510 × N.J. 123249), introduced as Prima in 1970; fruit 67–76 mm, round to short conic and irregular, cream, crisp flesh with reduced firmness after 3 to 4 weeks in storage, rich flavour, quality kept for one month or more; ripening four to five weeks before Delicious; good resistance to powdery mildew, moderate to good to fire blight, susceptible to cedar-apple rust; problems including sensitivity to cold and winter injury, poor colour inside the canopy, storage longevity "often considered inadequate", bitter pit and uneven ripening needing two or more pickings; with Liberty "the most widely planted scab-resistant cultivars in the U.S." (p. 161).
Plant Inventory No. 204, Part II (Plant Materials Introduced July 1 to December 31, 1995), p. 13: PI 589181, Prima, R. A. Norris (ed.), USDA Agricultural Research Service, 1996-08. Supports: developed by the Department of Horticulture, University of Illinois, Urbana; "PRI 14-510 x NJ 123249; Vf gene inherited from malus floribunda 821"; fruit 70–75 mm, 60–95 per cent red, striped; "eating quality fair to good"; harvest in late September, 2 weeks before Delicious; "fruits do not store well"; a spreading, vigorous, diploid, productive tree with biennial cropping; immune to scab, resistant to fire blight, susceptible to cedar-apple rust, only slightly susceptible to mildew; "First scab-resistant introduction. --R.D. Way, 1992".
Prima (accession 1972-019), National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, Kent (Defra). Supports: "Complex parentage involving Malus floribunda"; raised by the universities of Purdue, Rutgers and Illinois; introduced in 1970; deep cream, juicy flesh with a good "fruity" flavour; resistant to scab; picking in late September at Brogdale.
Cultivar fingerprinting and SNP-based pedigree reconstruction in Danish heritage apple cultivars utilizing genotypic data from multiple germplasm collections in the world, Bjarne Larsen and others, Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 72: 2397, with supplementary Table S5, 2025. Supports: Table S5: PRI 14-510 an SNP-confirmed parent of Prima, the other parent not identified; Golden Delicious and F2 26829-2-2 SNP-confirmed parents of PRI 14-510; Prima diploid.