INVESTIGATIONS OF AGRONOMIC TRAITS IN ITALIAN SWEET CHERRY CULTIVARS

Local sweet cherry cultivars are grown in the Latium Region of Italy, on small hilly areas, and are usually trained with traditional techniques. Recently, nine autochthonous genotypes were determined in situ, propagated and preserved ex situ. In the first fruiting season, in 2009, plant vigour, flowering and harvesting time, fruit set, yield, and morphological and qualitative traits were evaluated on these local cultivars and on two standard cultivars. Some cultivars started flowering at the beginning of April while others did not start until mid of April. Regarding harvesting time, cultivars ‘Maggiolina’ and ‘Cellanese’ were ready to be picked in the second decade of May, while ‘Biancona’ and ‘Napoleon’ (analysed as a standard) were ready three weeks later. In addition, the cultivars showed significant differences in yield and production efficiency. Concerning pomological traits, cultivars showed high variability in particular for the soluble sugars, titratable acidity and total phenol content. ’Morona‘, with good agronomic traits and high quality fruits, and ‘Maggiolina’ which is suitable for table consumption and processing, were identified as promising.