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What's inside:

1. A research points to Calcium as a possible remedy against cracking
   Foliar applications of calcium salts (Ca) appear to reduce cracking, but the results available to date are still uncertain. First, the effects of Ca have been attributed to a decrease in osmotic potential, resulting in decreased water uptake.
2. Soon the cherry trees will be pruned by robots
   Cherry growers are looking for solutions to improve the efficiency of their plants, guarantee the product quality demanded by the markets and reduce production costs. These include the mechanisation of certain cultivation operations such as pruning and harvesting.
3. The Sweet cherries: a success story
   Their first names are Aryana, Dave, Lorenz, Gabriel, Saretta, Stephany and Valina. Their surnames are Sweet, testifying to one of their outstanding traits, sweetness. The cherry varieties in the Sweet series from Alma Mater Studiorum are celebrating their 10th anniversary.
4. With this year's Final® varieties, Sanifrutta cherry season will end on a high note at the end of July
   The four varieties of the Final® series derive from a breeding programme conducted by Peter Stoppel in Kressbronn (Germany). The aim of the project was to obtain new late-ripening varieties, after Regina, to be proposed as possible alternatives to the Canadian varieties.
5. Royal Helen: the fairest of them all
   The jury of the competition that rewards Italian excellence every year during an initiative now in its XXIV edition, decreed the cultivar (cv) Royal Helen* produced by a young producer from the province of Modena (IT) the 'Most Beautiful Cherry in Italy' 2023.
6. Widening the choice of cherry rootstocks: the Krimsk® series
   The origins of Krymsk® rootstocks date back to the middle of the last century, when Gennady Eremin started a selection programme on stone fruit rootstocks (cherry, peach and plum) in the experimental station of the same name in southern Russia.
7. Post-harvest physiology and technology of sweet cherry
   The market recognises a number of key quality characteristics: a brightly coloured fruit, a strong 'cherry' flavour, a green and turgid stalk. Several new technologies have been developed to prolong the fruit's shelf life.
8. Gregory Lang: cherry orchard training system innovations
   Sweet cherry growers around the world are increasingly adopting trellised training systems that create a narrow, contiguous, planar “fruiting wall” canopy architecture. The benefits of such a radically redesigned orchard are significant.
9. High temperatures inhibit the accumulation of anthocyanins in fruits
   Anthocyanin is responsible for the red colour, and its presence has a direct impact on the colour of fruits. Multiple factors have a direct influence on anthocyanin accumulation and, among them, temperature serves a crucial role in regulating the accumulation of anthocyanin.
10. Applications of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) to reduce cracking
    The study conducted by the researchers of the Postharvest Research Group of Fruit and Vegetables (Orihuela, Spain) was to examine the effectiveness of preharvest methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatments in reducing sweet cherry cracking during tree ripening and at harvest.
11. From the Apennines to the Andes: the worldwide success of Sweet Aryana®
    Born and bred in Italy on the slopes of the Modenese Apennines (Vignola, Italy) Sweet Aryana has found one of her earthly paradises on the other side of the Andes. With 2000 hectares invested and 2 million plants in the nursery Sweet Aryana is generating strong interest in Chile.
12. Multifunctional covers are key tools for cherry orchard sustainability
    The adoption of multi-functional covers in orchard systems is widely increasing due to their protective function against biotic and abiotic stressors.
13. With biodynamic Apofruit hits the formula between taste and sustainability
    Enzo Trapani and his wife Simonetta have developed, together with Apofruit and Almaverde Bio, a cherry orchard entirely dedicated to biodynamic production, which covers 12 hectares and yields more than 50 tonnes per year.
14. Major cherry tree diseases and their sustainable management
    The nutritive value of fruits is directly related to their quality, which can be compromised by numerous adversities both in the field and postharvest. Various fungi and bacteria can cause disease on cherry trees.
15. The health of propagation materials starts with the breeders
    Some considerations on how to better qualify varietal innovation through breeding certification programs for a new sustainable and competitive cherry crop.
16. Cracking: when it rains, it pours
    Rain cracking is a serious physiopathy found in many fruits, especially cherries. Cracking causes enormous economic damage, both direct and indirect, and is set to become an increasingly important problem.
17. The impact of deficit irrigation on cherries growth
    The water supply during the fruit-growing season is directly correlated with fruit growth and yield, thereby allowing fruit to reach the appropriate size at harvest. Conversely, excessive preharvest water supplies may negatively impact the fruit storabilty.
18. Experimentation on new cherry planting systems at FEM
    The plants were set up according to the chosen form of cultivation, in comparison with the traditional spindle, starting from one-year old rods. From the analysis of the data collected, some interesting indications for vegetative and productive aspects emerged.
19. Sweet cherry breeding: difficult but exciting challenges ahead
    Sweet cherry breeders will face difficult but exciting challenges during the coming years and multilateral cooperation between them and with scientists from University and research centers appears as crucial.
20. An Italy-wide analysis of the costs and problems of modern cerasiculture
    Today cherry cultivation involves densities of up to a few thousand plants/ha. Intensification tends to result in earlier entry into production and improved fruit quality, but this is counterbalanced by higher planting costs and a shorter productive life of the plants.
21. New high-quality early varieties: the Meda® series
    The Meda® series cherry varieties are owned by International Varieties Unlimited (IVU), a company established in 2010 from a joint venture between an American cherry breeding company and the Proprietary Fruit Varieties (CA USA) of the late Marvin Nies.
22. CrackSense is the new project that hopes to solve the cracking problem
    The CrackSense project, coordinated by the research institute Volcani Center (Israel), was initiated in 2023. Its ambition is to better understand and predict the complex phenomenon of fruit cracking, a major agronomic problem, at the fruit, tree and plot level.
23. Experimental programme for the integrated management of cherry trees against Drosophila suzukii and physiopathologies
    Experiences with the application of multifunctional insect nets, territorial biological control and the attract & kill technique in Vignola. The study project on integrated cherry tree management is entering the third year of the work programme.
24. The CORETTE® series: the new early and dwarfing rootstocks from MSU
    From the cherry breeding conducted by Amy Iezzoni, professor emeritus at Michigan State University, five new dwarfing and early rootstocks have recently been commercially released: the Corette® series.
25. WP2: innovative technologies for sour cherry storage
    At the laboratories of the Department of Life Sciences of UNIMORE, research was carried out with the aim of assessing the effectiveness of a treatment with high hydrostatic pressure (HPP, high pressure processing) for the quality preservation of fresh sour cherries.
26. Innovative plant models for sour cherry production
    The production of sour cherries in the Modena area (Italy) has strong and recognised identity and territorial characteristics; today mainly conducted according to extensive processes, it can benefit from an evolution towards more efficient and sustainable innovative systems.
27. Reduction of light intercepted by plants affects fruit quality
    The scientific research we present today was conducted in Sichuan Province (China). Photosynthetic characteristics, physiology and biochemistry of the fruits were analyzed, as well as fruit transcriptome.
28. Germany is the third largest importer of cherries
    Germany is the third-largest importer of cherries in the world after China/Hong Kong and Russia. From 2010 to 2021, between 52 and 77 percent of the cherries consumed in Germany were imported, with the majority of imports originating in other EU member states.
29. In its own small way... in cherry orchards, Piedmont invests big!
    Piedmont is one of the few Italian regions showing signs of vitality in the cherry sector. In fact, while other regions have been struggling for years to maintain their positions as leading regions, from Piedmont there is renewed interest in the red fruit of paradise. But why?

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