FRUIT CRACKING AND FRUIT FIRMNESS OF 15 SWEET CHERRY CULTIVARS: A

TWO-YEAR STUDY IN ZADAR COUNTY

ŠIME MARCELIĆ1*, ŠIMUN KOLEGA1 , GORAN FRUK2; MARKO ZORICA1, ZORAN ŠIKIĆ1, TOMISLAV KOS1

1Department of ecology, agronomy and aquaculture, University of Zadar, Trg Kneza Višeslava 9, 23000 Zadar, Croatia, *simemarcelic@unizd.hr
2Department of fruit growing, University of Zagreb, Agricultural faculty, Svetošimunska street 25, Zadar, Croatia

1. INTRODUCTION
Cultivation of sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) is spread across the Republic of Croatia, but its importance is greater in
the Mediterranean region, especially for early ripening cultivars. Extreme weather conditions during flowering and
ripening negatively affect the commercial quality of fruits. The limiting factors in cherry production are precipitation
during fruit development and ripening which causes fruit cracking and are especially noticeable when there is a
deficiency of water flux in plant in the first phase of growth or during the fruit cell division (figure 1.). As a result, there
is a relatively small number of cells that are unable to receive a large amount of water, which causes the fruit to crack. In
general, cherry fruits are most susceptible to cracking during the last two to three weeks of growth, i.e. during phase of
intensive fruit growth. Each cultivar has its own period during which the fruit is prone to cracking, depending on the
time of ripening. Furthermore, irregular irrigation, transition of dry and rainy periods high relative air humidity in the
tree canopy and cultivar differences in cuticle structure could contribute to fruit cracking.
Aim of this work was to determine the occurrence of sweet cherry fruit cracking and fruit firmness and to connect
them with the amount of precipitation during fruit development. Figure 1. Sweet cherry
fruit cracking
2019 Precipitation (mm) 2020 Precipitation (mm) 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
5/5 16 2/5 4.9
The two-year research was conducted in the orchard of Cro Cherry d.o.o.
6/5 11.6 3/5 4.5
(44°12'37'' N, 15°14'07'' E) near Ninski Stanovi in Zadar County. Meteorological
10/5 4.1 13/5 1.1
13/5 42.8 15/5
data was monitored by Pinova Meteo© agrometeorological station located inside
1.6
15/5 0.9 21/5 the orchard with an emphasis on precipitation events during fruit development and
3.8
20/5 4 26/5 ripening (Table 1). During harvesting period 100 fruits were randomly picked from
1
21/5 5.6 4/6 2.2
trees of 15 researched cultivars (‘Burlat’, ‘Cristalina’, ‘Early Burlat’, ‘Ferrovia’,
22/5 1.8 5/6 5.7
‘Germersdorf’, ‘Giorgia’, ‘Grace Star’, ‘Lapins’, ‘Regina’, ‘Samba’, ‘Summit’,
24/5 0.9 6/6 133.6
‘Sunburst’, ‘Sweet Early’, ‘Sweet Valina’ and ‘Volovsko srce’). Cracking was
27/5 5.4 9/6 53.7
28/5 5.7 10/6 determined by immersing 15 healthy fruits in 3 liters of distilled water immediately
22.7
29/5 11.3 12/6 after harvesting. The counting of cracked fruits was carried out 2, 4 and 6 hours
6.2
30/5 21.3 after immersion with removing those with visible splits after each observation.
31/5 2.1 Fruit firmness (FF) was measured with a manual penetrometer model FT 327 with
Total 133.5 241 probe diameter of 8 mm (QA supplies, USA). Ten fruits of each cultivar were
randomly selected and measurements expressed in kgcm-2. Cracking index (CI) was
calculated according to the modified method (Verner and Blodgett, 1931;
Figure 2. Precipitation by dates from the beginning of May until
Christensen, 1972) using formula CI = [(5a + 3b + c) ∗ 100]/250 (a, b, and c are
the end of harvest (2019-2020) number of cracked fruits after 2, 4 and 6 hours). Collected dana CI and FF were
processed statistically in Statistica 14 software (TIBCO Software Inc., USA).
Furthermore, Pearson correlation between CI and FF of all cultivars and both years
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION was also carried out.
Fruit firmness (FF) is one of the important characteristics that affects the attractiveness of fruit to consumers and its placing on the market in a fresh state
(Zhu et al., 2018). Figure 3 shows the strength values for both years, where the lowest value was for the variety 'Early Burlat' in the color of the year, while in
2019 the highest was determined for 'Volovsko srce', and in 2020 for 'Grace Star'. Fruit CI is shown in Figure 3 for both years. In 2019, CI was the lowest in
Oxheart, which was significantly different from 8 cultivars. In 2020, CI was lowest in 'Grace Star' with 'Burlat', 'Cristalina' and 'Giorgia' not significantly
different. In aitionally, fruits of ‘Sweet Early’ displayed highest CI values in both years (Figure 3.).
Comparing researched factors for all varieties and both years Cultivar Firmness kg cm-2 Cracking Index (%) Harvest date
Yaars 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020
analysis showed a moderate negative correlation between the CI
and FF (Figure 4). ‘Burlat’ 2.42b_d 1.73b_d 15.60d_f 4.00f 24.svi 3.lip
‘Cristalina’ 2.41b_d 1.88b 22.40c_e 5.61f 10.lip 3.lip
‘Early Burlat’ 1.09h 1.47e 26.94bc 38.39b_d 24.svi 22.svi
Variables FF CI ‘Ferrovia’
‘Germesdorf’
2.60ab
2.37b_d
1.86b
1.89b
11.60e_g
12.00e_g
37.21b_d
35.98b_d
21.lip
13.lip
16.lip
10.lip
‘Giorgia’ 1.80g 1.89b 10.40fg 8.03f 4.lip 29.svi
FF 1 -0,4213 ‘Grace Star’ 1.89fg 2.30a 24.40cd 2.80f 10.lip 26.svi
‘Lapins’ 2.34cd 1.90b 8.80fg 14.80ef 13.lip 3.lip
CI -0,4213 1 ‘Regina’
‘Samba’
2.46bc
2.20de
1.74b_d
2.23a
15.60d_f
12.80e_g
38.00b_d
39.20ab
21.lip
4.lip
16.lip
29.svi
‘Summit’ 2.30c_e 1.50de 35.67ab 24.83de 10.lip 3.lip
Values in bold are different from 0 with a significance level alpha=0,05 ‘Sunburst’ 2.41b_d 1.65b_e 12.80e_g 25.22c_e 13.lip 10.lip
‘Sweet Early’ 1.66g 1.59c_e 40.80a 52.44a 24.svi 22.svi
Figure 4. Pearson correlation matrix for all cultivars and both ‘Sweet Valina’ 2.09ef 1.82bc 17.60c_f 38.80a_c 13.lip 29.svi
years ‘Volovsko Srce’ 2.82a 1.56de 4.50g 31.22b_d 13.lip 16.lip
Mean 2.19A 1,80B 18.13B 26.44A
Different letters indicate statistical difference of character between cultivars at p<0.05.
Figure 3. Firmness and fruit cracking index and parameters in 2019 and 2020
4. CONCLUSION
Sweet cherry cultivars vary significantly in their sensitivity to fruit cracking and
firmness. The variety Sweet Early died with the highest CI.
5. REFERENCES
The amount of precipitation during cultivation could affect the CI, year influence is
1. Zhu, D., Liang, J., Liu, H., Cao, X., Ge, Y. and Li, J. (2018). Sweet cherry softening
visible. accompanied with moisture migration and loss during low-temperature storage. J
In 2020, mean CI of fruits was significantly higher than in 2019. Sci Food Agric 98, 3651–3658.

V Balkan Symposium on Fruit Growing, Zagreb, Croatia, June 18-21, 2023