Pomological evaluation and GT-biplot analysis of promising open-pollinated genotypes of apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.)

Apricot is an important stone fruit species with different cultivars cultivated worldwide. Therefore, breeding programs are necessary for developing new varieties with various fruit quality and sensory traits. The present study evaluated morphological and fruit-quality attributes of thirty-seven apricot genotypes selected from several Iranian and Italian open-pollinated cultivars together with Shahroudi cultivar (control) during two growing seasons (2019–2020) using the UPOV descriptor and GT-biplot analysis. The results showed great variability in fruit size among all apricot genotypes studied. Most genotypes showed medium-sized fruits while large and small fruits were observed in eight and four genotypes, respectively. The highest yield was recorded in G-464, G-432, G-588, Shahroudi and G-571. Genotypes G-432, G-464, G-571, G-573, and G-576 had higher fruit weight than Shahroudi. In addition, G-450 and G-553 had the highest TSS (18.2°Brix) and TSS/TA (25.4), respectively. The GT-biplot analysis revealed that fruit weight and dimensions along with pH and TSS could be indicators for selecting superior genotypes. According to the present study, G-464, G-571 and G-450 can be introduced as superior genotypes and it is expected that the inter-crossing of these three have the potential to produce cultivars with sweet fruit, high yield and large fruit size.