Abstract: Zhongxing No.7 apricot is a new large fruit and sweet kernel apricot cultivar, which was newly selected from 256 hybrid seeds by crossing of Mixiang and Katy apricot. Mixiang apricot is the female parent, which is a local variety in Henan Province, with sweet kernel and outstanding fruit quality. Katy apricot is the male parent, which was introduced from the United States by Shandong Fruit Science Research Institute in 1991, and is widely cultivated in apricot planting areas in China. Zhongxing No. 7 apricot was approved by the Approval Committee for Improved Varieties of Forest Tree of Henan Province in January, 2023. The average fruit weight is 108.5 g, and the maximum fruit weight is 140.0 g. The average longitudinal diameter, transverse diameter and side diameter of the single fruit are 5.5 cm, 6.0 cm and 5.9 cm respectively. The fruit shape is near globose with concave apex and no fruit tip, and the fruit with yellow ground color and flake pink on the sunny side when mature. The fruit has nearly symmetry, deep suture, and medium deep cavity. The fruit surface is smooth, the pericarp is hairy and the fruit peel is medium thick. The fruit flesh is orange in color, delicate in texture, with a low fiber content and medium firmness, has balanced sugar/acid ratio and intense fruity aroma. The fruit soluble solids content is 14.5%, the total soluble sugar content is 7.9%, the total acid content is 1.1%, and the Vitamin C content is 9.3 mg·（100g）-1. The fruit kernel is round, brown and detached from the flesh. The average dry kernel weight is 3.2 g, the kernel length is 2.7 cm, and the kernel width is 2.4 cm. The kernel is sweet and large with average single dry weight is 0.5 g. The edible rate is 96.3%. When investigating in Xinxiang area, Henan Province, Zhongxing No. 7 apricot started germinating in early-March, early blossoming period in mid-March, and full blossoming period in mid-late March, with the flowering period is approximately 7~10 days. The flower of Zhongxing No.7 apricot is showy, it has five light pink petals with one pistil and 26~35 stamens, the anther is light yellow with a lot of pollen. The ripening date of Zhongxing No. 7 apricot is early June in Xinxiang, which is about 5 days late than that in Zhengzhou, and it can be stored at room temperature for about 5~7 days, with fruit development period of 75 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 periods lasts about 220 days. The tree posture of Zhongxing No. 7 apricot is spreading and tree vigor is strong, and it’s easy to florescence, and fruits are mainly bore on short fruit branches and bouquet fruit branch, meanwhile, pollination trees are needed because of its poor self-flowering ability. Fruits start to bearing in the second year after planted, large quantities fruits were bearing at the third year, high yield period usually comes at the fourth year after grafting, and the average yield of five-year trees is more than 40.0 kg. Zhongxing No. 7 apricot is a new superior large fruit and sweet kernel apricot cultivar which has beautiful appearance and exhibits strong suitability to undesirable circumstances, and is highly and stably productive for high quality fruits, and strong resistance to frost. It is suitable to be cultivated and developed in Henan province and the other apricot suitable planting areas of China.
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