IDENTIFICATION AND IN VITRO PROPAGATION OF PROMISING 'OBLAČINSKA' SOUR CHERRY SELECTIONS IN EASTERN SERBIA

‘Oblačinska’ is a local variety of sour cherry suitable for cultivation in arid conditions of eastern Serbia. The cultivated population of ‘Oblačinska’ is heterogeneous, having a high number of selections with diverse biological properties. Heterogeneity of the cultivated population creates problems in production, so efforts have been made to identify selections with desirable properties. Over 30 selections were identified from ten locations in eastern Serbia. Four of the most promising were singled out for having particularly favourable biological characteristics: budbreak, bloom, ripening time, fruit size (3.05 to 3.70 g), mesocarp content (90.0 to 91.4%) and chemical composition. These selections were multiplied by clonal propagation in vitro. The shoots were propagated from excised vegetative buds sampled from trees of the promising selections and cultured for multiplication on a modified MS medium containing 1.0 mg L^-1 BAP, 0.1 mg L^-1 NAA and 0.1 mg L^-1 GA₃. The average multiplication rate was 3.2. Elongated and rooted plants were acclimated in a glasshouse and then planted in a field collection.