Abstract: 【Objective】 To provide basic date for the conservation and sustainable use of Malus sieversii f. neidzwetzkyana. resources and create functional apple breeding theory and technology system, the fruit juvenile period, genetic variation characteristics of fruit and the evaluation of excellent strains for functional apple were studied. 【Method】 Six F1 hybrid groups were developed by Taeraerma and Xiahongrou as male parents and Hanfu, Starkrimson, Golden Delicious and Fuji as female parents. The fruit juvenile period, single fruit weight, hard crispness, soluble solids, Vc, titratable acidity, total phenolic and anthocyanin content, antioxidant ability, the content and components of flavonoids of 868 seedlings and 4 excellent strains from the six F1 hybrid groups were detected and compared with ‘Dehongcui’, which was introduced from foreign countries, and ‘Golden Delicious’. Furthermore, functional apple breeding techniques were discussed.【Result】The flowering rates of 5 groups with M. sieversii f. neidzwetzkyana as female parent were all more than 15% in the third year and the juvenile phases were only 2.33-4.33 years, while the flowering rate of Golden Delicious×Hanfu was only 8.0% in the 4th year and the juvenile phase was 3.33-5.33 years. Variations in most characters of F1 were wide and the variation coefficients were all more than 20%. It indicated that they have a large potential for further selection. The broad-sense heritabilities of total phenols in peel and flesh, acid, anthocyanin and Fe were more than 85%, which had powerful hereditary abilities. The 5 groups with M. sieversii f. neidzwetzkyana as female parent all existed red-soft, red-brittle, white-soft and white-brittle individuals. The anthocyanin and flavonoids content, antioxidant ability and flavonoids species of red strains ‘Hongcui 1’ and ‘Hongcui 10’, whose red area were nearly 1/3-1/2 of full apple area, were extremely significantly higher than reddish apple, such as ‘Hongcui 8’ and ‘Baicui 1’, and the control.【Conclusion】The F1 of M. sieversii f. neidzwetzkyana×apple varieties had the characters of short juvenile phase, powerful heritabilities of total phenols in peel and flesh and wide variation. Some excellent red-brittle functional apple strains with antioxidant ability and higher content and components of flavonoids can be selected from F1 groups.

Key words: Malus sieversii f. neidzwetzkyana , genetic variation , F1 excellent strains of functional apple , flavonoid