Recipient Organization
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
ITHACA,NY 14853
Performing Department
Horticulture
Non Technical Summary
Hard cider, a fermented beverage made from apple juice, has become an important economic driver for family farms, apple growers, and agritourism. The proposed project will identify the cultivars that will accelerate adoption and decrease risk for growers who are planting apple trees for the emerging cider industry. An online database will disseminate results to producers and scientists.National surveys have noted that less than one-third of cider producers have cider apple plantings to meet their own needs(Peck and Miles, 2015). This raises a concern that as the cider industry expands, specialized cider apples are in short supply (Miles et al., 2020). Surveys conducted by Harvest NY have identified "return on investment for growing specialty cider apples" among the highest potential barriers to planting cider apples in NY (Pashow, 2018).Existing Extension information on general apple production will benefit cider apple growers; however, new information specific to cider apples such as cultivar performance, is needed.Commercial apple growers in the State have prioritized "evaluating cider and hard cider varieties" in their 2020 RFP. Additionally, Angry Orchard, the largest cider producer in the country, is seeking growers to plant cider apple orchards and has looked to Cornell to provide cultivar recommendations.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
50%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
In order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the emerging cider industry there is a need to generate and disseminate research-based information on which cultivars to grow and how to grow them. In part because of the lack of sound recommendations from universities, many commercial apple producers are hesitant to plant cider specific cultivars. With continued Federal Capacity Funding, we willexpand our efforts to create a publicly available database that can be used to search through our expansive dataset and perform metabolomic analyses on 50 elite cider genotypes that have both the field performance and juice quality desirable for cider production.Furthermore, data from my lab will be consolidated with disease resistance data from the Khan Lab and other sources to create an information rich site for all of the relevant information on cider apple trees and production in our region. Users will be able to query the database for parameters such as, "Spanish, acidity, and fire blight resistant" and then get a list of cultivars that meet those search criteria. For another example, the search terms, "Malus sieversii, high tannin, and drought tolerant" could be used to produce a list of genotypes. We hypothesize that highly productive apple cultivars with the desired cider quality attributes (i.e., high tannin/polyphenol concentration and composition, acidity, juice yield, and consumer sensory preference) and disease resistance could be identified from the existing germplasm.
Project Methods
Extension Obj 1, Build a publicly accessible digital cider apple database. The database will serve the needs of stakeholders in identifying traits for their commercial plantings, as well as the needs of plant breeders and plant physiologist in identifying traits for research. The digital pomona database will be hosted on Cornell's Hard Cider website (https://hardcider.cals.cornell.edu) which had nearly 2,000 unique visitors and over 7,000 page views over the past 12 months.ExtensionObj 2, Year 2 and 3.Host a series of cider apple showcases in collaboration with Cornell Cooperative Extension's Lake Ontario Fruit Team. By making cider apples available for tasting, apple growers will learn about the chemical traits desired by cider producers. Complementary, cider producers will learn about the horticultural traits and diseases that are important to commercial apple growers.ExtensionObj 3, Years 1 and 2. Enlist citizen scientists to discover apples that potentially can be used for cider production.ResearchObj 1.An elite list of 50 genotypes that meet the field performance and juice quality necessary for highly productive cider apple orchards will be compiled. Using Ultra High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry the polyphenol composition of these genotypes will be determined at the Cornell University Metabolomics Facility. Cider producers are particularly interested in polyphenols that contribute to a robust mouthfeel, complex flavors, and are precursors to aromatic compounds. Our preliminary work found well known cider apples such as, Ellis Bitter and Kingston Black have low total polyphenol, but high hydroxycinnamic acid concentration. These compounds are important precursors of volatiles that contribute to cider aroma.ResearchObj 2. This work is being conducted by a doctoral student in the Peck Lab, and will overlap with the proposed work. Total RNA will be extracted using previously described methods, followed by RNA Seq library construction and sequencing.Differential gene expression analysis will provide the basis of understanding the gene networks regulating polyphenol production. A Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis will be conducted to identify novel gene networks regulating polyphenol production.ResearchObj 3. From replicated cider apple cultivar trials planted in 2015 and 2018, we will measure tree growth, yields, and fruit chemistry (acidity, soluble solids concentration, reducing sugars, sorbitol, yeast nitrogen, titratable acidity, total polyphenols, and tannins).