The systematic Sweet Cherry Breeding in Germany dates to the first work of R. Nebel and C.F. Rudloff in Müncheberg in 1928. After the Second World War, this work was continued by M. Schmidt in Müncheberg until 1955.
In 1953 E.L. Loewel, E.v. Vahl and F.-G. Zahn started a new breeding program in Jork. As a result, the cultivars 'Alma', 'Annabella', 'Bianca', 'Erika', 'Oktavia', 'Regina', 'Valeska', and 'Viola' were selected. From 1985 to 1999 the program was continued by H. Schmidt in Ahrensburg.
A second breeding programme was started in Naumburg by H. Mihatsch and M. Fischer in 1958 and continued in Dresden-Kauscha from 1971 to 1990. The released cultivars from this program are 'Namare', 'Namosa', 'Naprumi', 'Namati', and 'Nadino'. After both breeding programs were terminated, the plant material was transferred to Dresden-Pillnitz, where sweet cherry breeding has been continued by M. Schuster since 2001.
Seven new cultivars have already been released: 'Narana', Swing® 'PiSue 192', 'Habunt', 'Areko', 'Polka', Aria® 'PiSue 161', and 'PiSue 177'. Nineteen new promising breeding clones are currently under multi-site testing and approximately 100 clones are in stage II evaluation. The main breeding objectives are fruit quality, like size, firmness, sugar content, high productivity, self-fertility, and high resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses.
Image 1: Ripening time - JKI sweet cherry cultivars in comparison to cultivars 'Burlat', 'Kordia', and 'Regina'.
Mirko Schuster
Institute for Breeding Research on Fruit Crops, Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI) – Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, D-01326 Dresden (DE)
16 Oct 2024
Riverking stated to Asiafruit that 80 boxes of Río King cherries landed at Shanghai Pudong Airport on October 12 and were transferred to the Shanghai Huizhan market on October 14. The delivery included a range of extra-large and jumbo cherries of the Cheery Crunch variety.
31 Mar 2025
Bacterial cherry canker, caused by Pseudomonas syringae, threatens orchards in New Zealand. Find out the symptoms, spread and effective strategies to prevent it, from trunk protection to selecting resistant cultivars.
23 Oct 2026
Spring rains in Chile have split early cherries in the north, while damage in O’Higgins, which accounts for over 80% of production, remains marginal so far. Growers are monitoring fungal disease, saturated soils and potential impacts on Chile’s 2026/27 cherry crop.
23 Oct 2026
Da 14 anni, il PMGCe della PUC in Cile seleziona varietà precoci di ciliegio, a basso fabbisogno in freddo e resistenti a caldo, siccità e cracking. Tre selezioni avanzate e 1.000 individui sono valutati in quattro siti: l’obiettivo è registrare una varietà entro il 2030.
