INTRODUCTION OF APRICOT VARIETIES FROM EASTERN AND SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE IN HUNGARY

Hungarian apricot growers have to sell their product in a market which has undergone a great change in the last fifteen years. Growers think that they have a better chance in the markets if they grow mid-late and late varieties. On the one hand, there is a strong competition in the open market in the early season. Also, late-ripening varieties crop more regularly and bear higher-quality fruit. The typical Hungarian late apricot variety ‘Rózsakajszi’ is decreasing because it is virus-sensitive and has low fruit quality; the French ‘Bergeron’ is better, both in yield and fruit quality.