Preliminary results of rootstock evaluation for Estonian sweet cherry cultivar ‘Anu’

Dz. Dēķena*, D. Feldmane and V. Laugale

Institute of Horticulture (LatHort), Graudu iela 1, LV-3124 Dobele, Latvia

Abstract:

Mahaleb cherry (Prunus mahaleb L.) is the most widely used rootstock for sweet cherries in Latvia, however it has several disadvantages – strong vigour of grafted trees and an intolerance to heavy, waterlogged soils. The aim of the study was to test the suitability of rootstocks of different origins for winter-hard sweet cherry cultivar in Latvian climate. The trial was established in the spring of 2014 at the Institute of Horticulture (LatHort) to test four clonal rootstocks: ‘PiKu 1’, PHL-A’, ‘GiSelA 5’, ‘VSL-1’, and generative rootstock P. mahaleb (control) grafted with cultivar ‘Anu’ (Estonian breeding). Cherries were planted at 5×3.5 m in a random block design in three replications with three trees per plot. Tree height, annual growth of shoots, the viability of trees after wintering period and the intensity of flowering and production were evaluated in 2016–2019. Sweet cherry cultivar ‘Anu’ had the best overall winter-hardiness in the combinations with rootstocks ‘GiSelA 5’ and P. mahaleb. The highest intensity of flowering and production were observed in trees grafted on ‘GiSelA 5’. Trees on ‘VSL-1’ had the highest decease rate and the lowest winter hardiness.

Key words:

Some biological properties and fruit quality parameters of new sweet cherry cultivars and perspective selections

H. Jänes, P. Ardel, K. Kahu, K. Kelt and A. Kikas

Polli Horticultural Research Centre, Institute of Agricultural and EnvironmentalSciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, 69108 Karksi–Nuia, Estonia;e-mail: pille.ardel@pma.agri.ee

Abstract:

Twelve Estonian sweet cherry cultivars: ‘Anu’, ‘Arthur’ (control), ‘Elle’, ‘Ene’, ‘Irma’, ‘Kaspar’, ‘Mupi’, ‘Tontu’, ‘Elo’, ‘Jaago’, ‘Taki’, ‘Tiki’ and two selections: Polli 2–1 and Polli 4–13 as well as two introduced cultivars ‘Iputj’ (Russia) and ‘Jurgita’ (Lithuania) were evaluated for yield, ripening time, fruit weight and biochemical characteristics during 2007–2009 at the Polli Horticultural Research Centre. Results showed that the earliest ripening among the all studied genotypes was ‘Elo’ (16.06), while the latest one was Polli 2–1 (29.07). Average of the three years yields ranged from 6.0 kg per tree for cultivar ‘Jurgita’ to 20.1 kg per tree for cultivar ‘Arthur’. The largest fruits showed cultivars ‘Iputj’ (6.5 g) and ‘Jurgita’ (6.0 g), followed by ‘Arthur’, ‘Anu’ and ‘Mupi’ while the smallest fruits showed ‘Elo’ (3.2 g). The average °Brix value in fruit juice varied by the genotypes from 14.6 (‘Tiki’) to 19.6 (‘Anu’), average of all the genotypes was 17.1. The average total acids content ranged from 0.50% in ‘Iputj’ to 0.75% in ‘Ene’ while the total sugar content ranged from 7.7% in ‘Jurgita’ to 11.2% in ‘Arthur’. The ascorbic acid content ranged from 13.8 mg 100 g-1 in ‘Jaago’ to 24.8 mg 100 g-1 in ‘Anu’. The sugar:acid ratio was considerably high in ‘Iputj’, ‘Kaspar’, ‘Arthur’, ‘Anu’ and ‘Mupi’ (from 17.9 to 20.3). The most attractive were fruits of the cultivars ‘Iputj’, ‘Jurgita’, ‘Mupi’ and ‘Arthur’ (from 4.7 to 4.8 points).

Key words:

fruit biochemical content, fruit weight, P. avium, ripening time, yield