About the Authors

Satish Kumar

Satish.Kumar@plantandfood.co.nz

Affiliation The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited, Havelock North, New Zealand

David Chagné

Affiliation The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Marco C. A. M. Bink

Affiliation Biometris, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Richard K. Volz

Affiliation The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited, Havelock North, New Zealand

Claire Whitworth

Affiliation The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited, Havelock North, New Zealand

Charmaine Carlisle

Affiliation The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Competing Interests

PrevarTM Limited (which is one of the funding sources of this study) is an incorporated joint venture between pipfruit industry organisations (Pipfruit New Zealand (PNZ); Apple & Pear Australia Limited (APAL)) and the New Zealand government-owned Crown Research Institute (The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited). All authors (except M. Bink - who is affiliated with Biometris department at the Wageningen University, The Netherlands) of this study are full-time employees of the New Zealand government-owned Crown Research Institute (The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited). This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: SK DC RV. Performed the experiments: SK DC CW CC RV. Analyzed the data: SK DC MB. Wrote the paper: SK DC. All authors revised the manuscript and approved the final version.