New York 1 Apple Tree Resolving Bitter Pit and Storage Trade-offs

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing apple tree varieties like 'Honeycrisp' face issues such as bitter pit, biennial bearing, susceptibility to soft scald, and leaf mottling disorders, along with less desirable fruit characteristics and storage challenges, which affect their commercial viability and consumer appeal.

Innovation Solution

The development of the new apple tree variety 'New York 1', derived from controlled pollination between 'Honeycrisp' and NY 752, which exhibits precocious fruiting, attractive fruit quality, and improved traits like crispness, juiciness, and longer storage life, while avoiding the drawbacks of its parents, through clonal propagation and selection.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Strength

If 'Honeycrisp' apple tree is used, then sweetness and crisp texture are improved, but susceptibility to bitter pit, biennial bearing, and soft scald increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecrisp textureVSAvoidresistance to bitter pit and soft scald

Core Design Contradiction:

StrengthVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the parental traits by using a controlled cross between 'Honeycrisp' (providing sweetness and crispness) and NY 752 (providing resistance to bitter pit and soft scald). The resulting 'New York 1' variety separates these traits into distinct functional components, allowing the tree to exhibit both desirable characteristics without the harmful ones.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

NY 752 acts as an intermediary parent that contributes resistance traits to bitter pit and soft scald while being crossed with 'Honeycrisp'. This intermediary variety enables the transfer of resistance genes without directly transferring the harmful biennial bearing tendency, thus mediating between the conflicting trait requirements.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Quantity of substance

If 'Honeycrisp' apple tree is used, then sweetness and juiciness are improved, but biennial bearing and leaf mottling disorders increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesweetness and juicinessVSAvoidconsistency of bearing and resistance to leaf mottling

Core Design Contradiction:

Quantity of substanceVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent divides the parental contributions by using 'Honeycrisp' as the pollen parent (providing sweetness and juiciness) and NY 752 as the seed parent (providing consistent bearing and leaf mottling resistance). This segmentation allows the offspring to inherit quality traits without the reliability issues of the parent varieties.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

3Weight of moving object

If NY 752 apple tree is used, then larger fruit size is achieved, but fruit russetting and later maturity occur

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefruit sizeVSAvoidresistance to fruit russetting and timing of maturity

Core Design Contradiction:

Weight of moving objectVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent inverts the typical crossing direction by making 'Honeycrisp' the pollen parent and NY 752 the seed parent. This inversion allows the offspring to receive growth-promoting genes from NY 752 while the pollen from 'Honeycrisp' provides resistance to fruit russetting and controls maturity timing, achieving the opposite effect of traditional crossing directions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

4Productivity

If controlled pollination between 'Honeycrisp' and NY 752 is performed, then precocious fruiting and improved fruit quality are achieved, but development time and selection complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprecocious fruiting and fruit qualityVSAvoiddevelopment time from pollination to fruiting

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by conducting controlled pollination in 1998 and systematically evaluating the resulting seedlings over multiple years. The selector identified promising candidates early, and clonal propagation was initiated in 2002, allowing the variety to be released by 2008. This preliminary planning and systematic evaluation accelerated the path from pollination to commercial release.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUSPP22228P3Apple tree named `New York 1`

Publication Date: 2011.11.08 CORNELL UNIVERSITY

AI summary

A new and distinct Malus domestica apple tree variety named ‘New York 1,’ particularly characterized by having attractive red fruits that are sweet, juicy and have a crisp texture and ripen early mid-season. The fruit of ‘New York 1’ has excellent quality at harvest that it maintains during long storage (100-150 days). Trees are annually productive. ‘New York 1’ was tested as NY 98804-001.