Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012. All rights reserved. Fruit breeding is a long-term process which takes a minimum of about a decade from the original cross to a finished cultivar. Thus, much thought needs to go into which objectives to be emphasized in the breeding. Although certain objectives, such as yield and basic quality, are always important, the overall lifestyle, environmental, marketing, and production trends affect the objectives that breeders emphasize in their programs as they strive to anticipate the future needs of the fruit industry. The importance of each trend varies with the crop and environment. The major trends are to develop cultivars which simplify orchard practices, have increased resistance to biotic and abiotic stress, extend the adaptation zones of the crop, create new fruit types, create fruit cultivars with enhanced health benefits, and provide consistently high quality.
