What is a Strain of Apple?

A strain is a known cultivar that differs in some way from the natural vegetative characteristics of the original cultivar. The difference may be in fruit color development, fruit maturity or growth habit. For example ‘Daybreak Fuji’ is an early maturing strain of ‘Fuji’. ‘Super Chief Delicious’ is a strain of ‘Red Chief Delicious’.  For some cultivars, there are hundreds of strains that have been found over the years, some of which are no longer commercially available as better strains …