Significance, status and scope of apricot in India: A review

Apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) is a deciduous stone fruit grown in the temperate climate. India is not a leading producer country, but produces an appreciable quantity of apricot. The country fosters 84 genotypes including 15 commercially important genotypes. However, a large part of the fruit is wasted because of various reasons viz. unorganized market, lack of post-harvest technologies and unpredictable demand-supply. The present review comprises characteristics of the fruit, kernel and extracted oil with their aspects for value addition, packaging, storage, marketing aspects and future prospects. It also covers major growing areas of the country, botanical description, ecology, maturity, ripeness, physiology and promising cultivars of the region. Physical, chemical and functional characteristics of the fruit are reviewed. Value addition deals mainly with the products viz. dehydrated apricot, chutney, instant chutney powder and frozen fruit besides canned fruit, nectar, pulp juice, jam, infant drinks etc. It has widened to different methods and analysis of drying along with the need of engineering intervention in post harvest.