‘Silistrenska ranna’ – Bulgarian cultivar used in apricot breeding program

'Silistrenska ranna' is a Bulgarian cultivar with an average fruit weight of 34 g, yellowish-orange skin color and gentle red over color. For improving its fruit quality, 'Silistrenska ranna' was used as a pollinator of 'Lito', a cultivar with attractive fruits and known as resistant to Plum Pox Virus (PPV). The inheritance of fruit weight, shape, skin ground color and over color, were observed. Among the progeny, derived from the parental combination 'Lito' x 'Silistrenska ranna', the obtained fruits resembled 'Silistrenska ranna' to a greater extent. Good fruit taste, very small to medium size, and light coloration make the fruits of the hybrids suitable for canning and drying. 'Silistrenska ranna' could be used as a parent when the breeding program aims to obtain genotype suitable for processing. Some leaf features as leaf shape and area were also investigated. The leaves of the hybrids were smaller than both parental cultivars. The hybrids were tested for their PPV resistance and 34% of the studied individuals were genotyped as resistant.