The genetic improvement programme on the cherry tree at the Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI) has an almost century-long tradition. The first activities were started by M. Schmidt in Müncheberg in the 1930s. Later, M. Zwitzscher continued the project at the Max Planck Institut in Cologne by propagating the varieties Primavera and Sekunda, while E.L. Loewel in Jork selected and propagated a dozen varieties, including Regina.
More recently, in Dresden, M. Fischer started a new breeding programme aimed at self-fertility and resistance to bacterial cancer by Pseudomonas spp, leading to the release of the NA series varieties Namosa, Nadina, Namare and Namati.
Since 2001, the project has been in the hands of M. Schuster at the JKI in Pillnitz. The cherry varieties Narana (ripens with Burlat), Swing® PiSue 192* (+8 Burlat), Polka (+10 Burlat), Aria® PiSue 161 (+14 Burlat), Areko (+17 Burlat), PiSue 177 (+19 Burlat) and Habunt, a two-coloured cherry ripens 20 days after Burlat.
Below the report of Mirko Schuster presented at the workshop on cherry variety innovation at Macfrut 2023.
20 Dec 2023
Honey bees and mason bees promoted sweet cherry fruit set, but only when both were present. The results show that the provision of nesting material and the use of hives can increase the presence of bees in sweet cherry orchards.
07 Aug 2024
They noticed this during the last few seasons in Chile, in which dry and humid years alternated. What was seen was that during dry springs Alternaria dominates, while when springs are wet, Botrytis is the predominant pathogen.
21 Nov 2024
A Chinese study analyzed the effects of five different rootstocks on Summit sweet cherry cultivar during the fruit veraison phase with or without nitrogen-free nutrient fertilizers. The five rootstocks tested were: Mahaleb, Gisela 5, and three hybrid selections H11, H17, and H22.
21 Nov 2024
Given its direct influence on other indices such as flavor and firmness, this time we will analyze color, from the perspective of homogenization in the final product, the high percentage of light-colored fruit, and the high percentage of dark-colored fruit.
