Pre-selection for juvenile period,flowering and picking time in apple seedlings

The length of the juvenile period was found to be associated with the degree of juvenility (degree to which seedlings show juvenile symptoms) and with the time leaf buds break in spring. The time of bud break was also related to time of flowering; bud break and juvenility were not interrelated. The observations suggest that preselection on the basis of a low degree of juvenility and early bud break together would substantially increase the proportion of early-bearing and, to a smaller extent, that of early-flowering seedlings in the selected material. The shift towards earlier flowering was not accompanied by an advance of the date at which flowering ended, at least when the selection limit is based on the progeny mean. The degree of leaf fall (colour) during autumn appeared to be closely related to the time the fruits become picking ripe; no significant relation existed between this parameter and juvenility or bud break. The degree or time of leaf fall (colour) is a possible pre-selection criterion of the time of picking.