VICTOR^®: A SEMI-DWARFING CHERRY ROOTSTOCK FOR DRY CONDITIONS

The Battistini dott. Giuseppe nursery produces 4 million rootstocks for fruit trees annually through micropropagation. Of this, about 1 million are cherry rootstocks, which are sold in Europe and in the Mediterranean area. The nursery constantly conducts experiments with new sweet cherry varieties and rootstocks. The most important goal of these trials is to obtain dwarf rootstocks and cultivars that produce large size fruit and a profitable harvest. Four years ago, the nursery patented a new semi-dwarf rootstock called Victor^®. The original plant is a Prunus cerasus selection native to the area of Tibet, obtained from seeds imported in the late 1980s by Battistini Giuseppe. Initially, the plants obtained from those seeds were selected by the nursery according to vigor and compatibility with local varieties. Subsequent experiments carried out by the nursery and by public research institutes have highlighted the following characteristics of sweet cherry on Victor^®: high yields and early fruiting, dwarfing, and resistance to dry conditions. Furthermore, it is compatible with many sweet cherry cultivars and adaptable to different soil/climatic conditions