ABSTRACT
Apricot is a delicious fruit having a characteristic, pleasing flavor. It is consumed fresh or in processed form-canned, dried, or frozen (1). The apricot (Prunus armeniaca) probably originated in central or western China, rather than in Armenia as its name suggests (2). The apricot requires cool weather to break ·dormancy and dry sunny weather or spring and a warm summer for fruit maturity. Hot weather with temperatures above 38°C, however, injure the fruit (3). The specific climatic requirements of the apricot restrict its cultivation in the United States to California, which produces about 96% of the U.S. crop. Other apricot-growing states are Washington and Utah (4). Turkey, Italy, Greece, Spain, the United States, and France are the major producers of apricots (Table 1). The world production of apricots in 1990 was 2,103,000 metric tonnes (5,6).
