PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF SELECTED CHERRY CULTIVARS UNDER CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF MURREE HILLS

Cherry (Prunus avium) is unique fleshy stone fruit belongs to temperate zones. It is getting high in demand due to its immense nutritional importance and dessert quality. High quality cherry produce is dependent of various factors such as variety, rootstock, climate and soil etc. In pursuit of that the performance of ten different cherry varieties namely Burlatt C-I, Ferrovia, Morreau, Durone-I, Stella, Mora, Bing, Van, White cherry and Black cherry in the climatic conditions of Lower Topa (1900 m Altitude), Murree. Sour Cherry was used as a rootstock for all of the cherry varieties. The experiment laid out according to randomized complete block design (RCBD), with four replications and one plant per treatment for the consecutive three years. Data regarding days of full bloom, number of fruits per plant TSS, fruit length, breadth, weight was evaluated. Data regarding comparative studies showed that Black Cherry T10 (64.50 days) was the early maturing variety among the selected cherry varieties. Both the fruit length (23.97 mm) and breadth (23.25mm) were higher in the variety Van (V8) and this variety showed a beautiful dark red color fruit. Fruit weight (5.80 g) was high in Ferrovia (V2). While yield in terms of Increased number of fruits per plant (341.50) was found in Stella (V5) as well as pronounced results regarding TSS (15.47 oBrix) were observed in Van (V8). In the long run, it will be an effective protocol for production of cherry on commercial scale and development of market as well as storage on sound basis.