Morphometric Properties Comparison of Some Turkish and Foreign Apricot Variety Grown at High Altitude

Abstract

Apricots are becoming more preferred because of their usage in the fresh, dried, and processing industries and are appreciated by consumers for their pleasant flavor, aroma, and high nutritional value. Apricot cultivation is mostly performed by native varieties in Turkey, and there is insufficient knowledge about the characteristics of foreign varieties. In this study, important Turkish and foreign varieties were evaluated according to their morphological properties using multivariate analyses. The highest fruit weight was detected as 31.90 g (Sakıt-2) in the Turkish varieties and detected 22.36 g (Precoce de Colomer) in the foreign varieties. The highest fruit height, thickness, stone height, and weight were detected in ‘Alyanak’ and ‘Sakıt-2’ the Turkish apricot varieties. The ‘Soğancı’ and ‘Sakıt-2’ were characterized by the highest stone thickness, pH, fruit height, and weight in Turkish varieties, whereas ‘Precoce de Tyrinthe’ had the highest total soluble solids in the foreign varieties. The correlation analysis demonstrated significant positive correlations between examined features in Turkish and foreign varieties. In the principal component analysis, the first five components elucidated 93.59% of the total variance. Examined traits were separated into three groups, and ‘Sakıt-2’, ‘Alyanak’, ‘Hasanbey’, and ‘Hacihaliloğlu’ at the Turkish varieties were placed in the first two groups and characterized by fruit and stone traits, while the foreign varieties formed the other group and were characterize by pH, TSS, and colorimetric traits. The study put forward useful information for the comparison of morphometric traits between Turkish and foreign varieties, and the results can be used in future apricot breeding programs.