Spain’s Valencia-based research organisation Ivia has registered two new varieties of apricot. Plant material for Alba Ros 3 and Alba Ros 1 should be available later this year.
“These are early varieties that produce fruit at the end of May,” Gerardo Llacer, head of Ivia’s fruit-growing department told FPJ. “That is what growers in Valencia want. They want to come onto the market before the competition from France and Italy starts and the prices come down. That way, if they can get into the marketplace with good varieties before June 1, they can achieve a premium for their fruit.”
Llacer estimated that it will be at least three to four seasons before any Alba Ros fruit is ready for the marketplace. The varieties have been bred not only for early production, but also to be resistant to the devastating sharka disease that has caused considerable problems for Valencia’s stonefruit producers. They are both crosses of the US Goldrich variety and native Spanish Ginesta.
Their secondary characteristics are vigorous trees and good fruit colouration. Llacer also highlighted the importance of the introduction of new varieties in enabling Valencia’s growers to diversify their production and renew their orchards. Ivia’s programme to find the new fruit has been ongoing since 1993 and has become Spain’s leading genetic improvement project.
