Resistance of New Sweet Cherry Cultivars to Fruit Pitting

Pitting is a serious postharvest problem in sweet cherries, consisting of sunken areas in the flesh that reduce product value and may result in shipment rejection. Pitting is believed to be caused by mechanical damage during harvest and packing, but symptoms may not appear for many days after the injury. Cultivars differ in pitting susceptibility. The pitting resistance of four new cherry cultivars [‘SPC136’ (Suite Note™), ‘13S2009’ (Staccato™), ‘13S2101’ (Sovereign™), and ‘SPC103’ (Sentennial™)] was compared with three commercial standards [‘Bing’, ‘Lapins’, and ‘Sumtare’ (Sweetheart™)]. Pitting was induced using a handheld instrument that drops a metal rod having the mass of an average cherry from a constant height onto the cheek of the fruit. Each cultivar was harvested at two different stages of maturity based on the CTIFL cherry color chart. Fruit were cooled to 4 °C before inflicting the artificial pitting injury. Severity of pitting was assessed after 2 weeks of 1 °C storage. Suite Note™ cherries were similar to ‘Bing’ in susceptibility at color Stage 4, but more susceptible than ‘Bing’ at Stage 6. The late-maturing cherries (Staccato™, Sovereign™, and Sentennial™) were all similar to Sweetheart™ in susceptibility at Stage 6, but Sovereign™ was more susceptible to pitting than Sweetheart™ at Stage 4.