New recent selections issued from INRA's apricot breeding program
Résumé
INRA, CENTREX, and CEP INNOVATION are developing new apricot cultivars for French growers with a particular attention paid to consumer’s expectations. The main objectives of the breeding program are: production regularity, fruit quality, and attractiveness. The cultivar evaluation is based on a three-stage-evaluation: (i) observation of the hybrid on its own roots during three consecutive years of production, (ii) evaluation of the best hybrids after grafting in three representative areas of production during at least three consecutive years, (iii) assessment of the agronomic and commercial interest of the ‘elite’ accessions in pre-commercial orchards. At the end of the selection process, two main types of cultivars have been recently registered: five cultivars of conventional apricot type of fruit dedicated to the enlargement of the production period, three cultivars of new red-apricot type characterized by a stark red blush covering 80% of the fruit shape, developed under a same trade mark ‘Rubisco’ ®. All these apricot cultivars are diffused by CEP INNOVATION SARL.