EVALUATION OF PLUM CULTIVARS IN SWITZERLAND

Preliminary results of a plum cultivar evaluation trial (first leaf 1997) at the Swiss Federal Research Station Wädenswil (FAW) are presented.
This trial includes the cultivars ‘Zimmers’ and ‘Italian Prune’ as Standard and ‘V 68011’, ‘Voyageur’, ‘Vanette’, ‘Katinka’, ‘Hanita’, ‘Elena’, ‘Cacaks Beauty’ and ‘Cacaks Fruitful’ as new cultivars for Switzerland.
It was evident that fruit thinning was mandatory for all new cultivars, in order to achieve good fruit quality.
The traditional cultivars, ‘Zimmers’ and ‘Italian Prune’ did not require thinning.
Furthermore, most of the new cultivars evidenced higher cumulated yields during the years 1998 – 2000 than did the traditional ones. ‘Italian Prune’ and ‘Cacaks Fruitful’ produced the best fruit quality.
The fruits of ‘Cacaks Fruitful’ were not entirely blue coloured.
Based on these preliminary results, it may be concluded that ‘Katinka’ (small fruits, purple) and ‘Voyageur’ (cling stone fruit) will not succeed on the Swiss market.
In order to achieve acceptable fruit quality with the new cultivars, the following requirements will have to be met: vigorous tree growth (pruning, fertilization), consistent fruit thinning and the right time for picking.

VII International Symposium on Plum and Prune Genetics, Breeding and Pomology

P. Rusterholz, CHR. Krebs

cultivar examination, Prunus domestica, yield, fruit thinning, picking time, fruit quality

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2002.577.7