Breeding Late Ripening Apricots in Turkey

Malatya is considered to be a center of dried apricot production. The production is dependent on only a few cultivars like 'Hacihaliloglu' and 'Kabaasi'. To diversify the production patterns, fresh consumption of apricots grown in the region is being encouraged. For this purpose, extending the harvesting period utilizing early and late table cultivars is crucial. A breeding study aimed to develop new late-ripening apricot cultivars was initiated at Inonu University. A total of 2250 hybrid trees was planted to experimental plots from 24 combinations. More than 1200 hybrid trees developed fruits in two consecutive seasons and the fruits were subjected to pomological analyses. A great deal of variation was observed for maturity date which was controlled by several factors. Several promising hybrids were selected for further investigations. The maturity period ranged 148-172 days for these selections while they produced fruits of 23.2-45.4 g weight and 18.0-22.1% soluble solids.