"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.
04 Sep 2023
Trees grafted onto the Maxma 14 rootstock induce lower vigour, productivity, and fruit weight. In contrast, trees grafted onto CAB 6P rootstock exhibited greater vigour, yield, and fruit weight, resulting in greater agricultural productivity.
02 Aug 2024
Sebastián Rodríguez, commercial director of Verfrut, indicated: 'We plan to export 85 per cent of the total to China and 15 per cent to other markets. This is an increase in terms of volume, we should reach 3.5 million boxes compared to 2.2 million this year'.
03 Sep 2026
The British cherry season faces extreme heat and yields at 70–80% of a normal crop, while fruit quality remains high. England's harvest falls to five weeks, as Scotland extends UK supply into September and the market continues to benefit from solid consumer demand overall.
03 Sep 2026
A Hungarian study on two sour cherry cultivars shows that the growing season affects bioactive compounds more than cultivar or farming method, influencing polyphenols, anthocyanins, flavonoids and antioxidant capacity and highlighting the importance of harvest timing.
