Evaluation of Fruit Quality of Apricot Cultivars and Selections

Abstract

Abstract Four experimental apricot selections and four commercial apricot cultivars were evaluated for various physical and chemical characteristics. The eight apricot accessions were divided into three categories based upon their average dates of fruit maturation (based on flesh firmness) in California's San Joaquin Valley. Within maturity groups, apricot accessions evaluated in this study had diverse fruit weight, Brix, titratable acidity, and color of both flesh and skin. Profiles of volatile constituents extracted from the eight accessions did not follow any consistent pattern. Alcohols, however, were the dominant group of volatiles present in each sample, and linalool was highest within each profile. The results obtained from this research demonstrate that several of the experimental apricot selections had better fruit size, Brix and fruit color characteristics than commercial apricot cultivars of the same fruit maturity in the same ripening season. KEYWORDS: Aciditybreedingbrixcolorfirmnessmaturityvolatiles