## 5 Conclusions  
Our results confirmed that SSR markers derived from the peach genome are still useful for the evaluation of apricot genetic diversity as well as for DNA fingerprinting of apricots. The high genetic diversity of apricots observed in our study is attributed to several factors. We selected and utilized highly polymorphic SSR markers, which are a reliable method for analysing genetic variation through capillary electrophoresis. Additionally, we worked with a diverse group of apricot cultivars, a result of an intensive breeding program in Slovakia conducted between 1964 and 2007, which primarily focused on hybridization with cultivars from China and Central Asia. Using cluster and Structure analyses, we confirmed the grouping of apricot genotypes according to their geographical origin and/or pedigree information. In our study, we found that all Central European old traditional cultivars are closely related to old Hungarian landrace 'Hungarian Best', while modern Slovak cultivars are similar to Chinese and Central Asian cultivars previously used in Slovak breeding programmes. Central European cultivars are the least similar to Western European and North American cultivars, which clustered together. The greatest genetic diversity was found in the group of cultivars from China and Central Asia, while the least diversity was found in the group of cultivars from Central Europe. However, we confirmed that the use of Asian cultivars in the Slovak breeding programme increased the genetic diversity of the Central Europe group. We also confirmed that the set of selected SSR markers and the apricot SSR database created in this study can be successfully used for the genetic verification of declared apricot cultivars. Furthermore, as some protected labels (e.g., 'Wachauer Marille') are also defined by their cultivars, our results will help to identify apricots that should not be sold under these labels. Unfortunately, to facilitate the fast and precise identification of unknown apricot samples, additional control genotypes are necessary. However, the results of our work should be helpful in both countries for the apricot breeding programmes to design crosses that enhance genetic diversity, for the management of apricot genetic resources, and the protection of traditional local cultivars as well as for cultivar identification to protect breeders' rights in both countries and thus may help to improve the protection and promotion of sustainable production of domestic and regional plant products. The following supporting information can be downloaded at: [[https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app1505244/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app1505244/s1)]([https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app1505244/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app1505244/s1)), Table S1: Sampling locations on the Slovak (1-14) and Austrian sides (15-17) with GPS coordinates, number of sampled cultivars and the cultivar labels. The sampling locations are numbered according to Figure 1; Table S2: Control cultivars of 53 apricot accessions revealed by 11 microsatellite markers; Figure S1: Allelic frequencies at 11 microsatellite loci detected in 53 control apricot cultivars. Conceptualization, M.H. ([PERSON]), M.H. ([PERSON]), and K.O. ; methodology, L.K. ; software, L.K. and M.H. ([PERSON]); validation, L.K., M.G., J.G. and M.H. ([PERSON]); formal analysis, K.O. and J.K.; investigation, L.K. ; resources, E.Z. and M.H. ([PERSON]); data curation, L.K. and M.H. ([PERSON]); writing--original draft preparation, K.O. and M.H. ([PERSON]); writing--review and editing, M.G., J.K., E.Z., M.H. ([PERSON]), J.K. and M.H. ([PERSON]); visualization, K.O. ; supervision, K.O. and M.H. ([PERSON]); project administration, M.H. ([PERSON]), J.G. and M.H. ([PERSON]); funding acquisition, J.G. and M.H. ([PERSON]). All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.