Figure 2.

Stages of fruit development and ripening in apricot fruits. After flower bloom, pollination and fruit set, fruit growth begin with a fruit enlargement, stopping the size increase during stone hardening (S1). The reactivation of grown at green stage (S2) is followed by a color change in half-ripe fruit (S3). Maturation and ripening end at physiological ripening, when the fruit reaches the maximum sucrose accumulation and definitive color (S4).