What new sweet cherry cultivars are suitable for planting in our province?

Although Hebei Province is a suitable area for sweet cherry cultivation and sweet cherries were introduced relatively early, the cultivation scale has always been rather small. The main reasons limiting the development of the sweet cherry industry are that the cultivated cultivars bear fruit late, have low yields and poor quality; management is extensive and high-quality, high-yield techniques are not standardized; and economic returns are low. In order to promote the rapid development of the sweet cherry industry and provide cherry growers with reliable reference for cultivar selection, in recent years we have carried out research on the introduction, observation, screening and evaluation of sweet cherry cultivars.

The introduced cultivars were 11 sweet cherry cultivars, namely Zaohong Baoshi, Shengli, Zhifu Hong, Hong Lubi, Brooks, Jimosi No. 3, Short-branch Stella, Longxu, Zaohongzhu, Bingtang Cui, and Regina, all grafted onto the local main rootstock Benxi Mountain Cherry. When planting, rows ran north-south, and pollinizer trees were arranged in an interspersed configuration.

Through years of continuous observation, comparing factors such as fruit traits, yield performance and resistance of each cultivar, we consider that two cultivars, Zaohongzhu (first bloom April 5-7, full bloom April 8, fruit ripening period May 20 to June 1) and Brooks (first bloom April 6-8, full bloom April 8-15, fruit ripening period May 25 to June 4), have fruit ripening periods close to that of Hongdeng, with good early yield performance and fruit quality, and can be promoted and applied as early-maturing cultivars in suitable sweet cherry cultivation areas of Hebei Province; Regina (first bloom April 8-10, full bloom April 6-10, fruit ripening period June 12-18) and Short-branch Stella (first bloom April 20-22, full bloom April 23-28, fruit ripening period June 15-20) are two cultivars with later ripening periods, similar to Summit, and also have very good early yield performance and fruit quality, and can be promoted and applied in the Yanshan region.

Zhao Yanhua, Cheng Hehe, Wu Yaqin, Changli Institute of Pomology, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences