Zaohongyan, a superior early-maturing and firmness flesh apricot cultivar

Abstract: Zaohongyan apricot is a new superior early- maturing and firmness flesh apricot cultivar, which was newly selected from 116 natural-bred offsprings of Chuanzhihong apricot. Chuanzhihong apricot was discovered in Julu county, Hebei province, has been cultivated for more than 300 years. Ch- uanzhihong apricot got its name because of its red and dense clusters of fruit and outstanding fruit quali- ty, and it was introduced into Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute in the nineties. Zaohongyan apricot was approved by the Approval Committee for Improved Varieties of Forest Tree of Henan province in March 2020. The fruit shape of Zaohongyan apricot is oval with attract appearance and the average fruit weight is 71.7 g, and the maximum fruit weight is 95.0 g. The fruit is nearly symmetry, the suture is shallow, the cavity is medium deep, the apex is light round bulge and has the fruit top. The ground color of Zaohongyan apricot is orange-yellow and the sunny side turns to be bright red at full ripening stage. The surface of Zaohongyan apricot fruit is fluffy and the fruit peel is medium thick, and the flesh is or- ange-yellow in color, delicate in texture with flesh thickness of 17.56 mm, with a low fiber content. The fruit is pulp hard, with balanced sugar/acid ratio and intense fruity aroma. The fruit soluble solids con- tent is 16.5%, the total soluble sugar content is 8.96%, the total acid content is 0.82%, the Vitamin C content is 8.69 mg·100 g-1, and the crude fibre content is 0.4%. The fruit stone of Zaohongyan apricot is elliptic, brown and detached from the flesh. Zaohongyan apricot has bitter and plump kernel, and the edible rate is 96.6%. When investigating in Xinxiang area, Henan province, Zaohongyan apricot started germinating in early-March, early blossoming in the first ten days of March, and full blossoming in mid- March, with the flowering period is approximately 7-10 days. The flower of Zaohongyan apricot is showy and the anther is light yellow with a lot of pollen. The flower is with five petals and is white in color, with one pistil and 32-40 stamens. The ripening date of Zaohongyan apricot is late May in Xinx- iang, which is about 5 days late than that in Zhengzhou. The fruit development period is about 62 days. The fruit can continue to harvest for about 15 days, and can be stored at room temperature for about 7- 10 days. The leaf bud starts germinating in late March and expands in early April. Trees defoliation starts in early-November and fully deciduous by mid-November, the tree vegetative growth period lasts about 220 days. The tree habit of Zaohongyan apricot is spreading and tree vigor is strong. It’s easy to florescence, and fruits of Zaohongyan apricot are mainly bore on short fruit branches and bouquet fruit branch results. Pollination trees are needed because of its poor self-flowering ability. Fruiting starts at the second year, bearing fruit in large quantities at the third year, high yield period usually comes at the fourth year after grafting, and the average yield of a five-year tree reaches up to 45.0 kg. Zaohongyan apricot is a new superior early-maturing and firmness flesh apricot cultivar which has beautiful appearance and exhibits strong suitability to undesirable circumstances and is highly and stably productive for high quality fruits. It is suitable to be cultivated and developed in Henan province and the other apricot suitable planting areas of China.