SWEET CHERRY BREEDING PROGRAMS IN EUROPE AND ASIA

The strength of the sweet cherry industry throughout Europe and Asia is due to the breeding efforts of France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Denmark, the UK, the Czech Republic, Romania, Estonia, Ukraine, Turkey, Japan and China. The last decade has seen the release of more than 140 novel cultivars that have provided the major thrust in extending the crop’s seasonal calendar and improving fruit quality traits such as size, flavour, flesh firmness and colour. Fruit resistance to cracking has been enhanced and there are now a dozen cultivars with only 5 to 10% of fruit affected by rain-induced cracking. Molecular studies have brought new light to bear upon the genetic control mechanisms of key tree and fruit traits, and this should enhance future breeding efforts. The introduction of new self-fertile cultivars with mutated S-locus alleles has been a key factor for improving crop yields, especially in Italy. Notable releases include the very early-season ‘Primulat’ and ‘Early Bigi’ (France); the self-fertile ‘Sweet Early’ and ‘Grace Star’ (Italy); the mid-season ‘Giorgia’ (Italy) and ‘Vera’ (Hungary); the mid-to-late ‘Kordia’, ‘Vanda’, ‘Techlovan’ (Czech Republic) and ‘Black Star’ (Italy); and the late ‘Regina’ (Denmark) and ‘Alex’ (Hungary).