## 5 Conclusions  
In summary, sensory evaluation revealed that the apricot fruits had typical fruits, sweet, and green aromas. A total of 429 volatile compounds were detected through qualitative and quantitative analyses of 24 apricot cultivars via the HS-SPME-GC-MS metabolomics method. These results indicated that terpenids, heterocyclic compounds, aromatics, nitrogen compounds, aldehydes, alcohols, and hydrocarbons were the main volatile compounds in the apricot fruits. Forty-two key volatile compounds were screened according to their aroma activity, and the total volatile compound content in the fruits of 24 apricot cultivars ranged from 112.77 to 317.67 \(\upmu\)g/g. The apricot cultivars with the highest and lowest total volatile compound contents were 'JNL' (317.67 \(\upmu\)g/g) and 'ZSHYX' (112.77 \(\upmu\)g/g), respectively. Forty-two key aroma compounds contributing to the aroma of apricot fruits were identified via the rOAV method, and (2S,4R)-4-methyl-2-(2-methylprop-1-enyl)oxane, (E)-non-2-enal, (3-methyl-3-sulfanylbutyl) formate, and thiophen-2-ylmethanethiol were determined to be the major active aroma compounds in apricot fruits. These results greatly contribute to the study of volatile metabolites in apricot fruits and reveal apricot germplasm resources with strong aromas; thus, our study provides a theoretical basis for apricot breeding and can aid in the improvement of apricot fruit quality. **Supplementary Materials:** The following supporting information can be downloaded at [[https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13233912/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13233912/s1)]([https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13233912/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13233912/s1)): Supplementary Figure S1. Pictures of the mature fruit of the 24 apricot cultivars; Supplementary Figure S2. Representative total ion chromatogram of a quality control sample (a) and total ion flow diagram of the mixed QC sample (TIC, the sum of the strengths of all ions in the mass spectrometer at each time point) (b)--the horizontal coordinate is the retention time of metabolite detection (RT), and the vertical coordinate is the ion flow intensity of ion detection (CPS); Supplementary Table S1. Relative contents of the identified volatile compounds in the fruits of 24 apricot cultivars; Supplementary Figure S3. Column chart of the volatile compound contents in 24 apricot varieties. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, and P represent the terpenids, esters, heterocyclic compounds, ketones, alcohols, aldehydes, aromatics, hydrocarbons, phenols, nitrogen compounds, halogenated hydrocarbons, amines, acids, sulfur compounds, ether, and other compound contents, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed via a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and different letters indicate significant differences at the 0.05 level; and Supplementary Figure S4. Histogram of the aroma characteristics of fruits of different apricot germplasm resources. **Author Contributions:** X.Z., data curation, methodology, visualization, software, formal analysis, investigation, and writing--original draft; S.Z., investigation, data curation, and resources; W.G., supervision; J.J., investigation and data curation; K.L., conceptualization and investigation; Z.T., resources; S.W., investigation; and W.Z., conceptualization, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition, and writing--review and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. **Funding:** This research was financially supported by the Major Science and Technology Projects in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region [2023A02008-1], the 2024 Special Fund for Forest and Grass of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Phenotypic Identification of Forest Fruit Germplasm Resources), the Xinjiang Endemic Fruit Germplasm Resources Conservation Project [19230836], and the National Horticultural Germplasm Xinjiang Special Fruit Trees and Rootstocks Subbank Operation Service [NHGRC2023-NH13].