Observation Of Three Introduced Apricot Cultivars

Most apricot cultivars from China were table fruit, which was self-incompatibility although havebig fruit and strong flavor, there was short of processing varieties in China.comparative experiment andregional test were carried out, materials including three processing apricot cultivars, e.g.‘Story’、‘Moorpark’ and ‘Hunter’ were introduced from Australia, two Chinese local apricot cultivars, e.g.‘Luotuohuang’ and ‘Chuanzhihong’ as check cultivars. Economic trait of fruit, botanical characteristics,biological characteristics, Stress and disease resistance were investigated to select cultivars forprocessing in China. The main results were as following:1From the economic trait of fruit, fruit of all introduced cultivars were bigger than check cultivars,average weight of ‘Moorpark’ were76g (‘Luotuohuang’ only49g), and degree of ripess and matureperiod were same. Hardness of introduced cultivars was higher than check cultivars significantly.hardness of ‘Moorpark’ reach up to7.5kg/cm~2, which was the5times and3times of ‘Luotuohuang’ and‘Chuanzhihong’, respectively, in addition, the soluble solids content of all introduced cultivars werehigh, all above indicated that introduced cultivars were suit for processing.2From the taste and flavor, introduced cultivars were sweet, sugar/acid ratio of ‘Moorpark’,‘Story’ and ‘Hunter’ were7.1:1,10.3:1and6.9:1, respectively, Sugar/acid were higher than5:1;Sugar/acid of check cultivars including ‘Luotuohuang’ and ‘Chuanzhihong’ were lower than introducedcultivars significantly, sugar content of Chinese local apricot cultivars were higher than introducedcultivars, whereas tasted sour and had a strong flavor because their high proportion of acid content.3From the self-compatibility, the check cultivars were self-incompatibility, the introducedcultivars show3.5%-6.5%self-fruitful rate. Natural fruit rates of ‘Moorpark’,‘Story’ and ‘Hunter’ were29.6%,26.9%and26.5%, respectively, completely development of floral organ and lower degradationrate were the main reasons for high yield of introduced cultivars.4From the Stress resistance, the introduced cultivars can blossom and fruiting at the condition oftemperature abnormal change and showed strong resistance in last frost; In2009, the check cultivars‘chuanzhihong’ was damaged by scab disease seriously caused by early and excessive rainfall, theintroduced cultivars show obvious resistance and slightly infected by scab disease.