Effect of cherry rootstocks on harvest and quality of fruits in non-irrigated orchard

The hot and dry weather of recent years has had a significant impact on cherry growing in Central Europe. Research on the influence of the weather on the quality and yield of cherries in the non-irrigated orchard has been launched in Research and Breeding Institute of Pomology Holovousy. The sweet cherry cultivars ‘Burlat’, ‘Jacinta’, ‘Early Korvik’ and ‘Kasandra’ were chosen to evaluation. These cultivars were grafted on rootstocks Weiroot 720, PiKu 1, Gisela 3, Gisela 5 and Krymsk 6 in a plant spacing 4×1.5 m. Trees grafted on Gisela 6, Krymsk 5, Colt and Alkavo rootstocks were planted in a spacing 5×1.5 m. Yield, yield efficiency, flower set, fruit set, start of blossoming, fruit maturity date, average fruit size (mm), fruit cracking (%), TSS (total soluble solids; °Brix), fruit firmness (Durofel units) and TCSA (cm²) were evaluated. The highest harvest was 9.00, 6.18, 4.89 and 2.76 kg tree^-1, on cultivars ‘Early Korvik’ on Krymsk 5, ‘Kasandra’ on Krymsk 6, ‘Burlat’ on Gisela 5 and ‘Jacinta’ on Gisela 5, respectively.