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Saving heirloom apples has zero biodiversity value, or near two it. All domestic apples are extremely inbred and from a one or two cultivars brought to Europe a few hundred years back. The reservoir of apple biodiversity , at least for sylvestris is in its native range where domestic apple cultivation is actively polluting the genome. I think that's like khazakhastan and western china.

discuss

pvaldes|3 years ago

Common apple is still genetically very close to the true native species from Kazajahstan forests. This was a surprise for everybody.

There are other species from Japan to Siberia that can act as pollen donors.

RosanaAnaDana|3 years ago

To add to this, any seeds from wild pollination will result in new 'varieties'my

It's trivial to regain diversity from this species, and it's not like apple is on the edge of survival.

RosanaAnaDana|3 years ago

To add to this, any seeds from wild pollination will result in new 'varieties'.

It's trivial to regain diversity from this species, and it's not like apple is on the edge of survival.