The apricot culture in Spain has a great tradition, being cultivated in an extensive way from mid of century XVI. At present, Spain is the second producer country in the world, after Turkey, having a great economic importance, mainly in the regions of Murcia and Valencia. It is precisely in these coastal regions where from the mid‑eighties is being produced a strong expansion of the sharka virus. That supposes, at this time, one of the principal limiting factors in the production of this crop. The control of this disease goes through a combined strategy of legal‑type methods (removal affected trees), preventive methods (plant material health) and plant breeding (utilisation of resistant cultivars). Breeding for resistant cultivars is usually achieved through crossing resistant cultivars with commercial cultivars adapted to the area. However these resistant plant material is of scarce agronomical value. Currently the application of new biotechnologies (i.e. genetic transformation) is giving hopeful results.