"The super millionaire fruits of the Alma Mater": this is how Corriere della Sera headlined years ago when announcing the results obtained by researchers from the Department of Agri-food Sciences and Technologies of the University of Bologna on the cherry tree genetic improvement project: the seven Sweet® sisters, the new varieties named after the children or loved ones of their inventors.
A team led by Stefano Lugli who, starting from old indigenous varieties, the famous Duroni di Vignola, bearers of valuable traits such as sweetness, texture and aroma, has been able to combine these virtues with others, such as beauty, size and productivity, taking them from varieties of American origin.
Below, the report by Bettina Riedel, variety manager of UNIBO, presented at the seminar on cherry variety innovation at Macfrut 2023. Precisely at Macfrut, ten years ago, the Sweet® varieties made their debut winning, among others, the Oscar prize for innovation.
16 Feb 2024
The greenhouse was built in 2019 and the micro-grafted cherry trees were planted in 2020. The goal is an early harvest, which will take place between 10 and 20 May and should reach a production of 20 tonnes/hectare in the early part of the European season.
19 May 2023
For Macfrut 2023 it was an honour to host Prof. Marlene Ayala of the Catholic University of Chile, the head of the main genetic improvement project for cherries started in 2010 in Chile..
20 Mar 2026
A study in Spain examines an evergrowing sweet cherry genotype unable to enter dormancy. The research highlights altered expression of DAM genes and offers new insights for genetic improvement and adaptation to climate change in temperate fruit crops.
20 Mar 2026
The CrackSense project investigates sweet cherry cracking in Lithuania and France, highlighting the impact of extreme weather events, sensor-based monitoring, and varietal differences to improve prevention, resilience, and advanced orchard management strategies.
