CEREZAS: Nuevas variedades priorizan la calidad del fruto - CHERRIES: New varieties prioritize fruit quality

Italy: The perfect mix for successful cherries

Sweet Saretta®

"If we consider the increasing foreign competition, we can see how the Italian cherry sector must necessarily focus on quality, using both varietal renovation and the most advanced agronomic techniques," explains Michelangelo Grandi, researcher for the Department of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Bologna. He will be one of the speakers at the National Cherry Convention to be held in Vignola on 25th February.

But what are the main qualities new varieties need to have? "Consumers buy using their eyes, so the produce must appeal to them. The main factor though is grade: recent tests showed that over 2,000 consumers preferred bigger cherries. Which is good even for producers, because sale prices are proportional to the dimension of the fruit."

"Other important characteristics are the compactness of the flesh and organoleptic qualities (sugar and organic acid). Then there is shelf-life, generally associated with a good compactness and which can be increased with modern storing techniques."

"At the University of Bologna, we have been experimenting with new cultivars since the late 1980s, which in Italy corresponded to a period of varietal renovation thanks to the arrival of new foreign varieties, mainly from Canada."

"The new varieties became popular in just a few years, also because they were very productive and had bigger grades. There were the Italian Giorgia and the Canadian Celeste, Lapins and Sweethart, which became the reference varieties together with the historical Burlat and Ferrovia."

"Then, in the 1990s, there were even more varieties thanks to breeding like Grace Star. We at the University are still studying to find cultivars for the very early and very late periods."


Marysa™

"The first successes for the University of Bologna came in the late 1990s with the seven Star varieties. Recently, the new Sweet® series was discovered, of which there are five varieties (Aryana, Lorenz, Gabriel, Valina and Saretta). Soon, the new Stephany variety will be added to the list."

"They all have excellent agronomic performances, aesthetic characteristics and organoleptic qualities. Important nursery gardens acquired exclusive sale rights in Italy (Top Plant Vivai, Salvi Vivai, Vivai Fortunato, Vivai Giannoccaro and Vivai Spinelli), Greece (Vitro Hellas), Spain (Segri-Plant) and Belgium (Fruit tree nursery Renè Nicolai). In addition, other agreements are currently being discussed in other EU and extra-EU countries."

"The Marysa variety was also introduced, although it is not part of the Sweet series because of its acidity at harvesting, but it does have  excellent agronomic performances and good quality. In 2015 it will be sold by Top Plant Vivai, Salvi Vivai, Vivai Fortunato and Vivai Spinelli, which have exclusive multiplication rights".

Contacts:
Dr. Stefano Lugli
Agricultural Sciences Department
Università di Bologna
Web: www.ciliegio.unibo.it
Source: http://www.freshplaza.com