Morphological and pomological characterizations of sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.), sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) and duke cherry (Prunus × gondouinii Rehd.) to choose the promising selections

Abstract

Three domesticated species of Cerasus L. subgenus including sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.), sour cherry (P. cerasus L.) and duke cherry (P. × gondouinii Rehd.) are interesting and increasingly important fruit species in the world. In the current study, morphological and pomological variability of 146 cherry accessions including 45 sweet cherries, 62 sour cherries, and 39 duke cherries was evaluated to select superior selections. Analysis of variance indicated that most of the studied accessions showed high variability for most of the traits. Fruit length ranged from 18.88 to 28.45 mm in sweet cherries, while it was varied from 11.17 to 14.64 mm in sour cherries and 15.37 to 18.60 mm in duke cherries. In addition, fruit weight varied from 4.40 to 8.86 g in sweet cherries, 1.36 to 2.67 g in sour cherries, and 4.40 to 6.04 g in duke cherries. Fruit weight showed positive and significant correlations with leaf length (r = 0.91), leaf width (r = 0.84), and leaf density (r = 0.40). The dendrogram generated using morphological data indicated two different clusters and separated the accessions based on their species. Based on the results obtained here, 20 sweet cherry, 13 sour cherry, and 12 duke cherry accessions can be recommended for cultivation. Furthermore, most of the accessions could substantially contribute to existent cherry breeding programs. The conservation of these autochthonous accessions is highly recommended.