CONTRIBUTION TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK APRICOT ASSORTMENT PROPERTIES

The production of apricots in Czechoslovakia is concentrated in the southern Moravia, south-western and eastern Slovakia regions. These regions have some common and specific features from the point of view of environment /ecological sphere/, as well as from the standpoint of the interior milieu, i.e. of the varieties' properties /sphere of the cultivating pomology/. Reconnoitring of the apricot assortments biological properties, from the standpoint of identification and suitability for growing, was carried out in the years 1961 – 1965. It was made just in the region of southern Moravia which is known as an apricot locality of old tradition. Conclusions on further improved methods for apricot production were worked out.

For reconnoitring, the young and old assortments at the Improvement Station in Velké Pavlovice have been utilized. Apricot assortments from the Improvement Station in Valtice and School Farm of the University of Agriculture in Lednice complemented the investigated material. The varietal authenticity of these plantings was verified again in the course of our observations. Velké Pavlovice was chosen as basic working place, because it was the station from which the variety material was used to be supplied to the production and served likewise for establishing new assortments. Apricot seedling was the fundamental rootstock. To control the influence of rootstocks upon the qualities of apricot varieties there were used plantings of the same variety group on different plum rootstocks. The basic method for observation has been elaborated according to the method of the Research Institute for Fruit Culture in Holovousy, valid in Czechoslovakia for the examination of the world assortment of fruits, and according to the method of the Tinning Research