New cultivars of first quality cherries at Dresden-Pillnitz

In Germany the sweet and sour cherry breeding is concentrated at the Julius Kühn-Institut in Dresden-Pillnitz since 2001. The main breeding goals are directed on sweet cherries for fresh market and sour cherries for processing and nowadays also for the fresh market. The selection of new cultivars is focused on fruit quality, high and stable fruit set and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress. During the last years molecular markers were developed for the sweet and sour cherry breeding. These markers were used for S-allele studies and for characterization of parents with a high probability of producing large fruits. New interspecific hybrids were developed to increase the genetic basis for breeding. As a result of the breeding activities four new sweet cherry cultivars, ‘Narana’, ‘Areko’, ‘Swing’, and ‘Habunt’, were selected. Four new cultivars, ‘Coralin’, ‘Spinell’, ‘Jachim’, and ‘Boas’, were selected from the sour cherry breeding program.