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.
26 Jul 2024
Some of this work was also carried out in other external farms belonging to their customers, located in different parts of Spain, Azerbaijan or Georgia: where the homogenisation of flower products is being tested.
04 Dec 2023
Eight new cultivars have already been released since 2001, 'Jade', Achat', 'Spinell', 'Turmalin', 'Taurus', 'Rubellit', 'Jachim', and 'Boas'. Two new breeding clones are currently in multi-site testing and 87 clones are in stage II evaluation.
28 Oct 2025
Argentina’s 2025/26 cherry season begins with mixed signals. Capci warns of early fruit drop affecting export volumes. Despite good fruit quality, unstable weather and production issues may impact international shipments, pushing forecasts toward stability or slight decline.
28 Oct 2025
A new micropropagation protocol for Gisela 17 rootstock was developed in Aurangabad, India. The study achieved excellent results in asepsis, rooting and shoot proliferation, paving the way for healthy cherry stock production and modern nursery propagation techniques.
