Jinhui, a new early ripening apricot cultivar

Abstract: Jinhui is an early ripening, fresh apricot cultivar. The seeding was derived from the cross of Chuanzhihong and Golden-sun at experimental field in 2003, 300 hybrid seeds were initially harvested.Of these, 200 seedlings germinated successfully and survived transplantation in 2005. The seedlings began to bear fruit in 2006, the primary selection of the superior plant number 2003-13W7. The evalua-tion of hybrid 2003-13W7 was conducted using top-grafting tests from 2008 to 2010, its fruit ripens ear-ly and has good fertility. The hybrid was selected as the most advanced accessions in 2010. Regional pi-lot parks were established in northern suburbs of Shijiazhuang, Shunping County of Baoding city and Julu County of Xingtai City, through the continuous identification of many years of observation, the fruit of 2003-13w7 is early ripening, and the main economic characters are good and stable. 2003-13w7 have the characteristics of early fruit, high yield, cold resistance, drought resistance, barren resistance, and without obvious disease. In December 2014, it was approved by the Approval Committee for Im-proved Varieties of Forest Tree of Hebei Province (nos. Hebei S-SV-PA-007-2014). Accession 2003-13w7 named as Jinhui. The fruit of Jinhui is round, with an average weight of 82.6 g and a maximum weight of 125.0 g. The average vertical, horizontal, and lateral diameters of Jinhui fruit are 5.05, 5.28, and 5.16 cm, respectively. The fruit has a round bulge top, shallow suture, and no-symmetry flesh. The ground color of the fruit skin is orange, overlaid with 1/4-1/2 red blush on the sunny side. Fruit flesh is orange, with fine texture. The flesh contains little fiber and is juicy. The flavor is a pleasant mix of sweetness and sourness. The fruit has a soluble solids content of 13.2%, total sugar 11.3%, total acid 0.77%, vitamin C 6.39 mg·100 g^-1, and flesh with skin hardness of 9.5 kg·cm^-2. There is no flesh brown-ing or softening near the stone. The stone is smooth, ovoid, and average weight 2.09 g. The flesh is free-stone. The kernel has a bitter taste. In the central and southern part of Hebei Province, the fruit ripened in early June, with a growth period of 68 d and a vegetative growth period of 220 d. The average perfect flowering rate was 78.56% , the average natural fruit setting rate was 61.86% , germination rate was 64.86% and branching rate was 15.21%. The fruits of the cultivar are primarily produced on bouquets purs and short fruiting branches. In general, the fruit does not crack, and there is no browning inside the fruit. Self-pollination does not bear fruit. Jinhui has good tolerance to cold, drought and barren, and strong adaptability. In the growing season, there are no obvious diseases on branches, leaves and fruits. Jinhui is more resistant to bacterial shot hole disease and leaf scorch disease, basically no early defolia- tion phenomenon, production management generally can not spray preventive drugs. Fruits can be stored at room temperature for about 5-7 days, resistant to storage and transportation. Jinhui can be cul- tivated in the central and southern part of Hebei province and the similar ecological conditions in north and northwest China. Self-pollination by Jinhui produces no fruit, so it is necessary to paired pollinated trees. The ratio of main cultivars to pollinated cultivars is 3-4∶1. The complete flowering rate and fruit setting rate of Jinhui are high, so fruit thinning work should be carried out as early as possible.