Evaluation of late season sweet cherry cultivars in the region of Belgrade

Phenological characteristics, vigour, yield, susceptibility to fruit cracking and fruit quality of eight sweet cherry cultivars with very late maturation time were evaluated over a six-year period (2017-2022) in the Belgrade region.
The cultivar ‘Regina’ served as a control cultivar for comparison.
Compared to the control cultivar, the average date of flowering onset ranged from 4 days earlier (‘Sweetheart’) to 1 day later (‘Colney’ and ‘Symphony’). The average harvest date ranged from June 19 (‘Skeena’) to June 27 (‘Staccato’). The lowest average yield per tree (2.6 kg) was obtained in the cultivar ‘Staccato’, and the highest (7.0 kg) in the cultivar ‘Katalin’. Late spring frosts occurred in three of the six trial years (2019-2021), which significantly reduced yield.
Compared to the control cultivar, significantly higher yield was observed only in ‘Katalin’, while two cultivars (‘Sweetheart’ and ‘Colney’) showed lower vigour.
The average fruit weight was highest in the control cultivar – ‘Regina’ (10.6 g), and statistically significantly lower in two cultivars (‘Sweetheart’ and ‘Staccato’). The most susceptible cultivars to fruit cracking were ‘Skeena’ and ‘Selah’. Soluble solids content ranged from 19.0% (‘Regina’) to 20.8% (‘Symphony’), and total acidity ranged from 0.72% (‘Skeena’) to 0.98% (‘Staccato’). The highest score for fruit appearance was obtained by ‘Regina’ cultivar, for fruit firmness by ‘Skeena’ cultivar, and for taste by ‛Katalin’ cultivar.
Based on the obtained results, besides the control cultivar ‘Regina’, the cultivars ‘Katalin’, and ‘Symphony’ can also be recommended for cultivation in the Belgrade region.

V Balkan Symposium on Fruit Growing

D. Milatović, Đ. Boškov, G. Zec, M. Stojanoski, N. Tešić

Prunus avium, flowering, maturation, yield, fruit cracking index, fruit quality

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2026.1449.36