It's a scene repeated all day, every day in market places around the world.
From oranges and apples to grapes and watermelon, fruit is among the most widely consumed of all foods.
At Plant and Food Research in Auckland, New Zealand, scientists are using gene discovery initiatives for new breeding programs aimed at pinning down key crop traits they say are beneficial to both producers and consumers. The scientists are working with many fruits like the kiwifruit, pip fruit, stone fruit, berry fruit and hops. They have been particularly successful with apples, producing red and pink-fleshed varieties.
By combining advanced gene technology with conventional breeding, they have developed a way to give breeders the information they need to improve crop yields, crops that are resistant to insects and diseases, as well as contributing to improved health and nutrition for the consumers.
The advantages of using this research is that it helps the farmer or the crop grower by giving them improved yields that may be disease resistant or more sustainable.
For the grower, the fruit may require less water, while for the consumer they may be tastier, healthier or better looking.
Roger Hellens, Genomics Program Project Leader: "If you can make a fruit healthier, then people are likely to buy more of it. If it's attractive, then people may be inspired to use it for novel things or they may eat more of this fruit and so that's what is going to drive the consumer and ultimately the guy that is growing the apples is driven by his ability to sell them."
The other advantage to this is it speeds up the time the breeder and crop grower may take in developing a good, healthy, sustainable crop, which in turn could help preserve the environment.
There is some criticism that this is genetic engineering or modification, but the researchers are quick to point out that it's actually based around natural plant breeding.
But scientists say it's very different from genetic engineering, as the process does not unnaturally change the genetics.
Richard Espley, Scientist: "What we're talking about here is using genomic technology, using knowledge of the genome, knowledge of genes themselves to help in our more traditional breeding program."
Eventually researchers say the program will begin to be used commercially around the world… and shoppers will see many different varieties of apples and other fruits sitting on market shelves all year round.
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