Fruit Cracking in Norwegian Grown Sweet Cherries

Abstract

The susceptibility to cracking of 16 Norwegian grown sweet cherry cultivars was measured by means of the cracking index method. Very high cracking index scores were found for ‘Van', ‘Merton Glory', ‘Vega' and ‘Vista' while ‘Emperor Francis', ‘Schmidt’ and ‘Sam’ got medium high scores. Low scores were obtained for ‘Sue’, ‘Kristin’, ‘Ulster’ and ‘Early Rivers’. Cracking susceptibility increased with increasing water temperature. No correlation was found between soluble solid contents and cracking susceptibility. Lrge-fruited cultivars were significantly more susceptible to cracking than were small-fruited cultivars.

Key Words:

• sweet cherry
• cracking index
• cultivars
• temperature