Introduction. Innovation in the management of perishability/freshness is anessential theme of the future fruit sector, not only for commercial and distributionsystems but also for production. Plastic films with modified atmospheres represent apostharvest technology that can be used to store stone fruits, such as apricots, that havea short shelf life when maintained in a normal atmosphere under cold conditions. The aimof our work was to evaluate the effect of several packaging materials on the postharvestquality of apricot fruits stored for 21 days by considering the most important qualitativetraits. Materials and methods. Modified atmosphere technology with differentpackaging materials was used to store apricot fruits cv. Tom Cot® at (+1± 0.5) °C and 90–95% relative humidity (RH). Different passive modified atmospherepackaging (MAP) conditions were developed because of the interaction between fruitrespiration and the different oxygen and carbon dioxide barriers of the films. The effectsof MAP were evaluated on the postharvest quality of the fruits by monitoring the headspacegas composition, weight loss, fruit flesh firmness (FFF), total soluble solids content(TSS), titratable acidity (TA) and skin colour. Results and discussion.Changes in packaging headspace gas composition were observed for all films used, but onlymultilayer films and biodegradable film maintained the MAP conditions until the end ofstorage. Wrapped fruits lost less weight than fruits maintained under normal conditions;in particular, multilayer films maintained the highest FFF values after 21 days. Thebiodegradable film exhibited good performance in terms of maintaining the CO2 and O2equilibrium inside the baskets by balancing the fruits’ respiration and the film’spermeability. Traditional plastic materials, such as multilayer films, and moresustainable films, such as the biodegradable film used in our study, can be successfullyemployed to store apricot fruits cv. Tom Cot® for up to 21 days in passive MAPconditions.

Introduction. L’hétérogénéité de maturité des récoltes d’abricots résulte de la difficulté d’évaluer objectivement le stade optimal de récolte et donc la variabilité du stade de développement des fruits au moment de la cueillette. Cette hétérogénéité pose un problème lorsqu’il s’agit de comparer des récoltes, des variétés, des parcours techniques, etc. Trois protocoles d’échantillonnage ont été testés comme préalables à la caractérisation du stade physiologique de lots d’abricots par des méthodes physiques destructives ou non. Le but recherché a été, hormis la réduction du nombre et du coût des analyses, l’obtention de lots homogènes représentatifs de la récolte et de son hétérogénéité, et la constitution de lots comparables. Matériel et méthodes. L’échantillonnage a été effectué sur la base de mesures de compression (pression) à un taux ne lésant pas ou peu le fruit. La sélection des lots a été réalisée après traitement statistique (analyse descriptive, partitionnement univarié) des valeurs de pression. La démarche a été appliquée (a) à la comparaison du développement d’un abricot hybride au cours de 2 années aux climats très contrastés (normal et caniculaire), (b) à la mise en évidence de l’effet des parcours techniques sur quelques propriétés physiques des fruits provenant de sept abricotiers hybrides et (c) au suivi de l’évolution en postrécolte d’un clone. Les paramètres retenus ont été la fermeté, les couleurs et les densités du fruit et de la chair. Résultats et discussion. La sélection d’un lot médian a permis de différencier les récoltes et d’identifier les caractéristiques affectées par le climat : coloration externe, couleur et densité de la chair. L’allotement en classes de fermeté s’est avéré efficace pour la mise en évidence de l’hétérogénéité des récoltes et pour comparer les propriétés physiques d’hybrides différents. La constitution de lots présentant des variabilités comparables en fermeté s’est montrée adaptée au suivi postrécolte des fruits, ainsi qu’à la mise en évidence de l’influence de mesures physiques non destructives répétées sur un même lot sur l’évolution des abricots en postrécolte.

Introduction. ‘Orange Red’ is an apricot cultivar released in the United States and characterised by large fruit of very good quality for both the fresh market and processing. For this reason, this cultivar is greatly appreciated in Europe, especially in France. However, its production is erratic under Mediterranean climate conditions. Materials and methods. The influence of two rootstocks (‘Manicot’ apricot and ‘GF31’ Myrobolan plum) on the productive behaviour of ‘Orange Red’ was studied under Mediterranean conditions in Murcia (Southeast Spain). Results and discussion. ‘Orange Red’ grafted onto ‘GF31’ Myrobolan flowered slightly later than those grafted onto ‘Manicot’ apricot. However, differences in the date of ripening of fruits were small. On the other hand, the percentage of flower bud retention and levels of floral fertility were higher when ‘Orange Red’ was grafted onto ‘GF31’ than onto ‘Manicot’, resulting in higher yields and fruits with a smaller weight. The increase in flower bud retention of ‘Orange Red’ grafted onto the rootstock ‘GF31’ was the main factor responsible for the increase in yield observed with this rootstock. Conclusion. Interaction between the cultivar and rootstock is presented as an interesting strategy for cultivar adaptation to different climatic areas.

Introduction. For some species such as P. armeniaca, overcoming dormancy may be problematic when cold requirements are not satisfied. Moreover, the different positions of flower buds on the tree canopy and on the apical and basal portions of twigs can influence their development. Sampling problems have not been extensively studied. Therefore, the effect of different sectors (west and east), of different heights (top and bottom) of the canopy and of twig portions (medium-apical and medium-basal) on the break of dormancy in the apricot tree was evaluated. Attention was also focused on floral anomalies in relation to the flower bud position on the twig, in order to identify the least variable portion of twigs and thus provide useful information for optimization of periodic bud sampling. Materials and methods. Two cultivars of P. armeniaca with different chilling requirements were chosen: `San Castrese' and `Orange Red'. The end of endo-dormancy was evaluated from December to blooming time by traditional biological approaches, such as increase in flower bud fresh weight and evolution of the bud phenological stage, before and after 7 d under forcing conditions. In addition, the percentage of floral anomalies was considered in relation to the flower bud position on the twig. Results and conclusion. The results showed that canopy and twig positions exerted different effects on the breaking of the flower bud endo-dormancy, and some practical applications can be drawn from them for the best sampling design inside the tree structure: the west orientation of the canopy and the medium-apical portion of the twig were the best positions to obtain an earlier active growth of buds, allowing the prediction of endo-dormancy breaking. The analysis of flower anomalies showed considerable differences depending on the position of the bud on the twig. High percentages of anomalous buds were observed in the medium-basal portion of the twig, which could distort the results on the evaluation of overcoming dormancy, due to a weaker growth trend of flower buds.