Pomological properties of sweet cherry cultivars grafted on ‘colt’ rootstock

Abstract

Pomological properties of 11 newly sweet cherry cultivars grafted on Colt rootstock were studied in the region of Macva over a three-year period (2010- 2012). An investigation has included phenological traits (flowering and maturing), the elements of productivity (number of flowers in an inflorescence, fruit set and yield), the most important fruit characteristics (physical, chemical and sensory), and fruit cracking index. Average time of flowering of tested cultivars was in the first and the second decade of April, while the maturing time was between 15 May (‘Early Lory’) and 20 June (‘Penny’). The highest yield was achieved by cultivars ‘Giorgia’, ‘Sunburst’, and ‘Crystalina’. Large fruit size was found in cultivars ‘Penny’, ‘Santina’, ‘Sunburst’, ‘Olympus’, and ‘Kordia’. The lowest susceptibility to fruit cracking was manifested in cultivars ‘Early Lory’ and ‘Giorgia’. Cultivars ‘Kordia’ and ‘Cristalina’ were given the highest sensory ratings. Overall, the best results were shown by medium-early season cultivar ‘Santina’, which can be recommended for commercial cultivation. In addition, the early-season cultivar ‘Early Lory’, and the late-season cultivar ‘Kordia’ can also be recommended for cultivation. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR 31063

Early tree growth, productivity, fruit quality and leaf nutrients content of sweet cherry grown in a high density planting system

“…In the present study, however, only cv. Sunburst had fruit weight >11 g, which is in agreement with a previous study on sweet cherry (Milatović et al 2013). For cv.…”

“…Harvest dates for a cultivar may be modified by rootstock effects and climatic conditions in the growing season (Menzies 2004). Generally, our harvest date for the same cultivars is in agreement with observations of other authors (Kazantzis et al 2011;Milatović et al 2013). Otherwise, early and late ripening is considered a desirable trait in sweet cherry (Lichev et al 2004).…”

“…For cv. Celeste, our result was lower as compared to the data of Kappel et al (1998), but higher than those obtained by Milatović et al (2013) at the same tree age and grafted onto Colt rootstock in conditions like ours. Neri et al (2005) showed that cv.…”

“…Contrary to our results, cv. Celeste blossomed relatively early under Bulgarian (Lichev et al 2004) and Serbian (Milatović et al 2013) conditions, whereas Kappel et al (1998) noted that the bloom period of this cultivar is late in Canada, which confirmed our results. These data suggest that cultivar effects on blossoming can be of importance when deciding on pollinizers for new orchards with self-incompatible cultivars (Gratacós et al 2008).…”

“…Our results for yield per tree and yield efficiency at the same tree age were however much lower for cv. Celeste on Colt than those obtained by Milatović et al (2013) in similar conditions. The differences between our results and those of the above authors could be explained by differences in the tree shape and size and in the pruning regimes.…”