THE SELF-COMPATIBILITY TRAIT OF THE MAIN APRICOT CULTIVARS AND NEW SELECTIONS FROM BREEDING PROGRAMS

Knowledge of the self-compatible trait for commercial apricot cultivar s and selections from breeding programmes is of great importance for a pricot breeders and growers. A study on self-incompatibility of the ma in growing cultivars in Europe as well as selections from European and American breeding programmes has been carried out. Out of 123 cultiva rs tested, 72 were found to be self-compatible while 42 were self-inco mpatible. For nine cultivars results were not conclusive. Many of the self-incompatible cultivars were obtained from breeding programmes, wh ich indicates that not enough attention has been paid to this undesira ble characteristic during the selection processes.