Improvement of Apricot Cultivar Assortment in Serbia

Abstract

In order to improve the apricot cultivar assortment in Serbia the work has been conducted in two directions. The first one is the creation of new domestic cultivars, and the second one is the introduction of foreign cultivars. Nine new apricot cultivars have been released in Serbia so far: 'Cacansko zlato', 'Cacanska pljosnata', 'Vera', 'Biljana', 'Aleksandar', 'NS-4', 'NS-6', 'Novosadska rodna', and 'Novosadska kasnocvetna'. This paper presents the most important properties of these cultivars, as well as the best introduced apricot cultivars. Of all Serbian apricot cultivars, 'Novosadska rodna' and 'NS-4' have shown the best characteristics. These cultivars start to spread in the commercial plantings, especially in the northern part of Serbia (Vojvodina). At the Faculty of Agriculture in Belgrade, the properties of 75 introduced apricot cultivars were studied in the period of 1996-2005. The best results in the group of early maturing cultivars were manifested by 'Harcot', in the group of medium-late maturing cultivars by 'Ligeti Orias' and 'Kostjuzhenskyi', and in the group of late maturing cultivars by 'Roxana' and 'Silistrenska Kompotna'. In the period after 2005, more than 100 new apricot cultivars were introduced. Among them, the following cultivars were singled out as promising: 'Aurora', 'Tomcot', 'Legolda', 'Pincot', 'Laycot', 'Sylred', 'Goldrich', 'Silvercot', 'Harrow Star', and 'Bergarouge'. In addition to pomological properties, self-(in) compatibility of apricot cultivars was also studied by means of fluorescence microscopy. All Serbian cultivars were self-compatible, while most of the introduced cultivars were self-incompatible.