Effect of rain protective covering of sweet cherry orchard on fruit quality and cracking

Fruit cracking of sweet cherries is a major global problem for growers. The rain protective covering system seems to be the best option to prevent the cracking caused by rain. Although the aim of covering is to protect the cherries against the cracking, there are also cases of cracking without fruit wetting under covers. Despite this fact the covering system is still the profitable option to reduce the fruit cracking induced by rain. An experiment using a rain protective covering system in sweet cherries was done by Research and Breeding Institute of Pomology in Holovousy in 2013-2016. The trial was established in the orchard located in Holovousy (Czech Republic, Eastern Bohemia). Fruit weight, soluble solid content, fruit firmness and percentage of cracked fruits were observed in the cultivars ‘Aranka’, ‘Amid’, ‘Burlat’, ‘Early Korvik’, ‘Horka’, ‘Jacinta’, ‘Justyna’, ‘Kasandra’, ‘Kordia’, ‘Regina’, ‘Sandra’, ‘Tamara’, and ‘Vanda’. The trees of cherry cultivars were grafted on rootstock Gisela 5 and trained as free spindle at 5×1.5 m spacing. Results were compared to a control variation consisting of uncovered trees in the experimental orchard. Rain protective covering of cherry orchard was the most effective in fruit cracking elimination within cultivars ‘Burlat’, ‘Tamara’ and ‘Justyna’. Fruit cracking was affected by weather conditions depending on the year. Although the amount of precipitation mostly affected the fruit cracking in uncovered orchard fruit, cracking was also observed in the covered orchard depending on cultivar. Impact of rain protective covering to quality of fruits due to the evaluation was not evident.