Perspectives of apricot breeding in the Nikita Botanical Gardens

Prunus armeniaca L. collection in the Nikita Botanical Gardens (NBG) includes 706 cultivars and breeding forms of various origins. The Central Asian group is characterized by the greatest variety in terms of flowering. There are genotypes with early and late flowering, but many genotypes (62.5%) bloom in average terms. In the European group apricot cultivars with average flowering terms (56.3%) are predominated, but early-flowering and late-flowering genotypes are also found. In the Iranian-Caucasian group, samples with average flowering terms are mostly concentrated. The cultivars from the Chinese group, in most cases, are characterized by early flowering (52.9%). Also, among the Chinese genotypes ones with medium and medium-late flowering were found. To create the cultivars with late-flowering terms, the following cultivars were selected as sources of this feature: 'Da-Huang-Hou' (from China); 'Geogdzhanabad' and 'Voski' (Iranian-Caucasian group); 'Mandule Rogni', 'Morava', 'Hersonsky 23', '16-15-9a', 'Original', 'Saratovsky Rubin' (European group); 'Luchak Sumbarsky', `Kok Pshar', 'Khurmai', 'Zard' (Central Asian group). Among the promising apricot cultivars, originated in the NBG using genotypes from various ecologo-geographical groups 28.9% with medium-late and late-flowering terms ('Ananasny Avgustovsky', `Bagration', 'Zapozdaly', 'Kazachok', 'Stepnyak Orangevy', 'Professor Smykov', 'Altair', 'Pasynok', 'Jupiter', 'Krasny Krym', `Iskorka Tavridy', 'Vynoslivy', 'Ozornik') were selected. These cultivars are interesting for growing in areas with changeable weather conditions and for use in cross combinations to create cultivars with late flowering terms. To create forms and cultivars resistant to Sharka disease, some apricot cultivars naturally resistant to Plum pox virus (PPV) were selected:'Goldrich', 'Henderson', 'Harlayne', 'Stark Early Orange' (SEO), 'Stella' and `LE3276'. Some of them were included in hybridization, 3717 apricot flowers were pollinated.