Pollarded tree bearing soft fruit (5)
I believe the answer is:
apple
'fruit' is the definition.
(I know that apple is a type of fruit of Maloideae)
'pollarded tree bearing soft' is the wordplay.
'pollarded tree' becomes 'ale' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'bearing' is an insertion indicator.
'soft' becomes 'pp' (musical abbreviation for pianissimo).
'ale' placed around 'pp' is 'APPLE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for apple that I've seen before include "Fruit of the rose family" , "Tree of the rose family" , "Delight (of one's eye)" , "US computer company" , "Crab, cooking or eating fruit" .)