Apple breeding is hampered by two characteristics of this species: i) the long juvenile phase of seedlings (minimum of 4 to 5 years) and ii) the gametophytic self-incompatibility.The long juvenile phase makes the introduction of traits (e.g.resistances) from wild apple accessions an endeavor that can take up to 25 years.In fact, four to five pseudo-backcrosses are necessary to progressively remove the undesired traits of the wild apple introduced together with the trait of interest.