Published in Scientific Papers. Series B, Horticulture, Volume LXII
Written by Marieta NESHEVA, Valentina BOZHKOVA, Snezhana MILUSHEVA
Most apricot breeding programs aim to obtain genotypes combining good fruit qualities and resistance to Plum pox virus (PPV). Using a combination between field observations and Marker Assisted Selection improves the efficiency of the breeding process. The study was conducted at a breeding orchard in Fruit Growing Institute - Plovdiv, Bulgaria and describes progenies from the hybrid family ʻHarlayne’ х 'Harcot’, genotyped for resistance to PPV. Fruit ripening period, fruit biometry, total soluble solids (TSS), sensory analyses, fruit ground and over color were observed. The fruit ripening period of the most of the hybrids is after Harcot, the fruits were classified from small to large size and 82% of them surpass the TSS content of the parental cultivars. According to the sensory evaluation the hybridˈs fruits were highly scored (5.07-7.67). All of them were with orange ground color of varying intensity. The fruit over color was from 10 to 80 %. Two of the studied hybrids were selected and grafted on rootstock for final evaluation. A lot of the other hybrids had desirable traits and the breeding process with them will continue in F2 for improving their fruit quality.
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