Performance of ‘Lana’, a new plum cultivar developed at Fruit Research Institute, Čačak

Abstract

‘Lana’ was recognized as a new plum cultivar developed at Fruit Research Institute, Čačak in 2020. It is the eighteenth plum cultivar created at the Institute. ‘Lana’ was developed by planned hybridization of ‘California Blue’ × ‘Ruth Gershtetter’ and aimed selection of obtained plum hybrids of early fruit ripening time, good fruit quality, positive pomological properties, regular and optimal yield, and resistance or tolerance to the main plum pathogens. The new cultivar is characterized by a moderately vigorous to vigorous tree, a rare canopy with narrow-pyramidal shape. The branches are well garnished with fruiting wood. Flowering time is medium early similar to standard plum cultivar ‘Čačanska Rana’ with which it was evaluated in parallel. It is a self-incompatible cultivar. The ripening season is early, occurring in the second decade of July, about 4−10 days after ‘Čačanska Rana’. It crops regularly and moderately. In field conditions, under natural pathogen infections pressure, ‘Lana’ shows no susceptibility to the Polistigma rubrum (Pers.) DC, Puccinia prunispinosae (Pers.: Pers.) and Taphrina pruni (Fuck.) Tul, while sporadic symptoms of brown rot can be observed pointing at moderate susceptibility to Monilinia laxa (Aderhold & Ruhland) Honey. ‘Lana’ is tolerant to Sharka, it could exhibit sporadic symptoms on individual leaves but not on the fruits. The fruit is large, with average weight of 86.34 g, roundish, with very pronounced suture line. The skin is purpleblue with mildly expressed bloom. The flesh is yellow-greenish, moderately firm, juicy and aromatic with sweet-subacidic flavor, having 97.08% of share in the fruit weight. It contains an average of 14.5% soluble solids, 9.95% total sugar and 1.34% total acids. The stone is large and partially separated from the flesh. ‘Lana’ is a plum cultivar intended primarily for fresh consumption. It is recommended for growing in suitable agro-ecological conditions of vineyard areas.