Pobedy, Krasnodar, 350901 Russia, e-mail kubansad@kubannet.ru, prichko@yandex.ru A b s t r a c t Apricots ( Lam.) contain a wide variety of nutrients such as sugars and acids, and preventive bioactive compounds such as vitamins, polyphenols and pectins which possess antioxidant activity and affect shelf life of fruits. <...> Like other biological features, these properties are hereditarily determined. <...> Therefore, proper selection of varieties, in addition to the optimal mode of storage, can help to reduce losses in commercial properties and deterioration of the chemical composition of apricots during storage because of rots, physiological diseases, and natural attrition. <...> The article presents a comparative evaluation of the chemical composition and keeping quality of fruits in most common apricot varieties from Krasnodar region that are well adapted to the local conditions of growing. <...> They are the Pineapple, Emerald, Red-Cheeked, Sunny, Amber, ripening in the second ten days of July, and the Krasnodar late, ripening in the third week of July. <...> An amount of soluble solids in the fruit ranged from 13.5 in Emerald variety to 18.8 % in Pineapple, and the sugars varied from 9.5 to 13.6 %, respectively. <...> The high content of pectin at more than 1.0 % was also observed. <...> Pineapple and Sunny varieties accumulated a significant amount of ascorbic acids which was superior to an average value of 14.0 mg/100 g for the central zone of the Krasnodar region. <...> P-active catechins were detected in fruits at 45.6 to 155.9 mg/100 g. The high content of catechins at more than 100.0 mg/100 g was observed in Emerald, Red-Cheeked and Amber varieties. <...> In the Pineapple variety the vitamin PP level of 0.6 mg/100 g was detected. <...> According to L.V. Metlitskii (1976) vitamin PP is a component of many enzymes involved in cellular respiration, metabolism of proteins, and regulation of nervous activity. <...> For full assessment of the biochemical peculiarities of apricots we investigated the content of -carotene (provitamin A). <...> In fruits with light yellow color of the pulp such as the Pineapple fruits the -carotene content was 1.66 mg/100 g, in case of intense yellow color, particularly in Red-Cheeked and Krasnodar late varieties, it was 3.05 and 3.52 mg/100 g, respectively. <...> The activity of polygalacturonase (PG) before computation of fruit for storage and during storage was <...>