VEGETATIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF YOUNG APRICOT TREES CV. ´NINFA´ AS AFFECTED BY ROOTSTOCK

In the last ten years, the apricot industry has received renewed interest in Southern Italy, in particular in Sicily. Although it still does not cover a really high acreage, many growers are now considering developing new apricot orchards by adopting new cultivars. The early-ripening cultivar ‘Ninfa’ appeared to be one of the most interesting, due mainly to the possibility of early production together with acceptable fruit quality. Despite the recent interest in the species, little information was available for the vegetative/reproductive traits in relation to the rootstock vigour, taking into account the early ripening aspect and the short fruit development period. Related to this, an apricot orchard has been set up, using the early-ripening cultivar ‘Ninfa’ grafted onto 5 rootstocks with differing genetic origin and vigour. The orchard was planted in an area very suitable for early apricot production, on the South coast of Sicily, and produced very interesting yields and fruit quality. Because of its high fruit set, ‘Ninfa’ is confirmed as being very sensitive to fruit thinning; the selected peach seedlings were highly vigorous and productive, P. domestica ‘Penta’ was the weakest and had a low yield efficiency while the Myrobalans were intermediate.