Fruit set and fruit quality at different crossings between sour cherry cultivars

Abstract

By diallelic reciprocal crossings and open pollination of sour cherry cultivars 'Meteor', 'Oblacinska' and 'Heimanns Konserven', pollination effect (based on fruit set and fruit harvested) and fruit quality (based on fruit weight and stone weight) was established. In all crossings, on average, 'Meteor' as a female parent, had the highest fruit set, but as a pollinator it gave the lowest fruit set. Opposite results were obtained in 'Heimanns Konserven'. 'Meteor' that had the highest average fruit weight, caused the highest average fruit weight in the other three cultivars when used as a pollinator. 'Oblacinska', that had the lowest average fruit weight, caused the lowest average fruit weight in the other three cultivars when used as a pollinator. The cultivar used as a pollinator significantly influenced variability of the properties examined. This showed that selection of an adequate pollinator could cause better cropping and fruit quality in sour cherry cultivars. The existence of very significant differences caused by interaction of cultivar used as a female parent and as a pollinator showed the need for finding the best pollinator for each sour cherry cultivar.