‘ROSITA’ – A NEW EARLY SWEET CHERRY CULTIVAR

In Bulgaria there is an opportunity to extend the calendar period of sweet cherry fruit ripening.
That is why one of the major aims of the breeding programme of the Fruit-Growing Institute in Bulgaria was the development of early sweet cherry cultivars bearing large-sized fruit.
Incorporation of a range of biotechnologies into the breeding programme has led to achievement of better results from the programme, particularly in accelerating the establishment of a higher quality hybrid collection of early parent combinations.
‘Rosita’ cultivar was established by selection of seedlings produced from open pollination of ‘Bigarreau Burlat’ cultivar.
Fruits of ‘Rosita’ ripen very early – a week before those of ‘Bigarreau Burlat’. Keeping in mind the early period of ripening, they are very large, their size being 21.7×24.6×21.2 mm, and their mean weight – 7.2 g.
The fruit is kidney-shaped and the fruit skin is basically pale yellow in color with a light red tint covering up to 50% of the surface.
Fruit flesh is soft, gentle, pale yellow in colour, very juicy, with a pleasant sour-sweet taste and transparent juice.
The stone represents 5.02% of the whole fruit weight.
The tree is moderate in growth, highly productive and it has a good compat-ibility with the rootstocks ‘GiselA-5’, P. mahaleb and P. avium. The cultivars ‘Rivan’, ‘Nalina’ and ‘Bigarreau Burlat’ are good pollinators of ‘Rosita’.

XXVIII International Horticultural Congress on Science and Horticulture for People (IHC2010): International Symposium on the Challenge for a Sustainable Production, Protection and Consumption of Mediterranean Fruits and Nuts

A. Zhivondov, P. Gercheva

Prunus avium, breeding, new cultivar, early

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2012.940.22