ADVANCED SWEET CHERRY DWARF SELECTIONS OBTAINED BY IONIZING RADIATIONS

The irradiation program of the main sweet cherry cultivars grown in Italy, to induce "compact" mutations, was begun in 1967 in cooperation between the Istituto Sperimentale per la Frutticoltura of Roma and the Laboratorio Promozione e Sviluppo in Agricoltura E.N.E.A. of Roma.

Up today 25 cultivars have been irradiated: Bella Italia, Burlat, Moreau, Napoleon, Del Monte, Durone di Cesena, Durone Nero I, Durone Nero II, Durone Nero III, Durone dell’Anella, Durone della Marca, Edelfinger, Ferrovia, Gemelle, Imperiale, Malizia, Mora di Cazzano, Mora di Vignola, Principe, Ravenna, Ravenna precoce, Ravenna nana, Roana, Saccoccia, Sandra.

Some of the irradiated varieties seem to have a more positive answer to the mutagenous treatment at the rate of 4–5 KR, others did not give any compact mutant.
To the first group belong the cultivars Burlat, Durone Nero I, Durone Nero II, Napoleon, Ferrovia, Gemelle, to the second group the cultivars Moreau, Durone Nero III, Mora di Vignola.
Together with a shorter internode, the compact mutants are characterized by an emphasized basal dominance and by an early fruiting.
The main problem, before the commercial release of the compact selections, is the genetical instability poited out in several clones.

Fruit Breeding, XXI IHC

C. Fideghelli, A. Albertini, G. Della Strada, Q. Roberta, L. Rivalta, F. Pennone, P. Mannino

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1983.140.11