Influence of fruiting shoot on flowering pattern and fruit quality of Vesuvian apricot cultivars

The objective of the present study was to investigate the differences in flowering pattern and fruit quality between long shoots and spurs in apricot cultivars grown in Campania, a region of Southern Italy. The trial was carried out on apricot trees of autochthonous cultivars (‘Portici’, ‘Prete Bello’ and ‘Pellecchiella’) and Ninfa’, an early ripening cultivar. Trees, trained to Y trellis, were spaced 4.5 x 3.0 m and grafted onto myrabolan. At budbreak, fruiting shoots were selected on the trees (60 fruiting shoots/type/cultivar) and the number of flower buds/fruiting shoot was counted. At bloom, the number of open flowers/shoot was counted every second day. Fruit set was also recorded on the same fruiting shoots. At harvest, fruits were collected and their size, weight, skin colour, flesh firmness, soluble solid content and titratable acidity were measured. The results indicated significant differences in the time and length of flowering among cultivars. The cv. Ninfa showed the most synchronous pattern of flowering, whereas the Vesuvian cultivars had a lower percentage of opened flowers and more heterogeneity. In these cultivars the flowering pattern was different among fruiting shoot types. The percentage of fruit set was also different among the cultivars varying from 11.13% (cv. Prete Bello) to 48.6% (cv. Pellecchiella). Fruit quality was strongly dependent on the cultivar productive habit.