Flowering Dynamic and Susceptibility of the Flowers of Black Currant (Ribes nigrum L.) and Red Currant (Ribes rubrum L.) to Spring Frosts

Abstract

In this paper, we investigated dynamic of flowering and the flower sensitivity of 9 black and 6 red currant cultivars to spring frosts. The aim of this study was to separate the most resistant cultivars of spring frosts on that region. The experiment was set up in the orchard of berries, in the farm nursery Omega, Mislodjin near Belgrade, during 2006. In our study both currant cultivars started flowering in the last 10 days of March (average for the period 2007-2009). Time between first flower and first berries varied from 16 to 21 day. The earliest flowering began with the red currants - 'Junifer' and 'Stanca' and black currant 'Bona'. Black currant cultivars did not show correlation between level of frost damage and the beginning of the cultivar flowering. However, among red currant cultivars this correlation is strong. The highest level of freezing was among early-flowering cultivars, and the lowest among late-flowering cultivars.