Some biological properties and fruit quality parameters of new sweet cherry cultivars and perspective

Twelve Estonian sweet cherry cultivars: ʹAnuʹ, ʹArthurʹ (control), ʹElleʹ, ʹEneʹ, ʹIrmaʹ, ʹKasparʹ, ʹMupiʹ, ʹTontuʹ, ʹEloʹ, ʹJaagoʹ, ʹTakiʹ, ʹTikiʹ and two selections: Polli 2-1 and Polli 4-13 as well as two introduced cultivars ʹIputjʹ (Russia) and ʹJurgitaʹ (Lithuania) were evaluated for yield, ripening time, fruit weight and biochemical characteristics during 2007-2009 at the Polli Horticultural Research Centre. Results showed that the earliest ripening among the all studied genotypes was ʹEloʹ (16.06), while the latest one was Polli 2-1 (29.07). Average of the three years yields ranged from 6.0 kg per tree for cultivar ʹJurgitaʹ to 20.1 kg per tree for cultivar ʹArthurʹ. The largest fruits showed cultivars ʹIputjʹ (6.5 g) and ʹJurgitaʹ (6.0 g), followed by ʹArthurʹ, ʹAnuʹ and ʹMupiʹ while the smallest fruits showed ʹEloʹ (3.2 g). The average °Brix value in fruit juice varied by the genotypes from 14.6 (ʹTikiʹ) to 19.6 (ʹAnuʹ), average of all the genotypes was 17.1. The average total acids content ranged from 0.50% in ʹIputjʹ to 0.75% in ʹEneʹ while the total sugar content ranged from 7.7% in ʹJurgitaʹ to 11.2% in ʹArthurʹ. The ascorbic acid content ranged from 13.8 mg 100 g-1 in ʹJaagoʹ to 24.8 mg 100 g-1 in ʹAnuʹ. The sugar:acid ratio was considerably high in ʹIputjʹ, ʹKasparʹ, ʹArthurʹ, ʹAnuʹ and ʹMupiʹ (from 17.9 to 20.3). The most attractive were fruits of the cultivars ʹIputjʹ, ʹJurgitaʹ, ʹMupiʹ and ʹArthurʹ (from 4.7 to 4.8 points).