Pomological Characteristics and Biochemical Fruit Composition of Some Canadian Sweet Cherry Cultivars

Abstract

The demand for sweet cherries (Prunus avium L.) in the region of Serbia and Montenegro has been increasing gradually over the last few years, suggesting that production should be more expanded and its importance for the economy increased. The Fruit and Grape Research Institute in Cacak has a long tradition of research to identify cultivars that perform the well in our agroecological conditions and subsequently introduce them into production. Such systematic work on these introductions, as well as on creating new domestic cultivars, has a very significant, if gradual, influence on the structure of sweet cherries produced in this region. The cultivars created at the Canadian Fruit Research Stations of Summerland, British Columbia and Vineland, Ontario have had exceptionally good results in our conditions. This paper presents a two-year study on the time of ripening, pomological properties, and biochemical composition of fruits (soluble solids, total and invert sugars, and total acidity) for nine sweet cherry cultivars originating from Canada: 'Lapins', 'Early Van Compact', 'Summit', 'Compact Lambert', 'Compact Stella', 'Sunburst', 'New Star', 'Vega' and 'Vista'. The largest were in 'Sunburst' (11.2 g), and the highest and lowest soluble solids contents were in 'Vega' (18.2%) and 'New Star' (13.5%), respectively. All cultivars had high total sugars, with 'Sunburst' (12.6%), 'Vega' (12.2%) and 'Early Van Compact' (12.2%) especially notable, in direct relationship to their excellent quality.