The effects of different pruning applications on fruit bey formation and fruit quality in Sweetheart cherry variety

Cherry (Prunus avium L.), which is consumed lovingly in the world and in our country, belongs to the subfamily (Prunus) of the family (Prunoideae) of the order of botany (Rosales). It has been increasingly produced in the past and today. Many of the cherry varieties produced are self-inefficient. Yield rates in these cultivated varieties have not reached the desired levels. The reason for this situation was insufficient pollination, pollinator variety incompatibility, lack of bee activity as a result of the off-season flowering period, different flowering periods of pollinator varieties and parent varieties. With the progress of breeding studies, self-fertile varieties have been obtained. However, quality problems have emerged in these cultivars with intensive fruit set. In this study, it was tried to increase the quality criteria of the sweet heart variety, which is self-fertile, with pruning. By applying the branch breaking process, eye formation was tried to be realized in the shoots with right angles and in the branches that need to be removed by pruning. This study was carried out in 2021 in the noble cherry orchard located in the Sadiye (ATLILAR) neighborhood in the Toroslar district of Mersin province. A study was carried out to increase the fruit quality criteria in cherries by making 20, 40 and 60 cm branch cuts on the 2-year-old fruit branches of the sweet heart cherry varieties announced in the noble cherry plot and by comparing the fruits obtained from the shoots left as the control group. In addition, branch breaking method was applied on annual fruit branches. As a result of cuttings of 20, 40 and 60 cm, there was no change in phenolic observations compared to the control group. As a result of the pomological analysis, it was not found to be significant at the 5% significance level. As a result of the branch breaking process, the number of eye formation in annual shoots increased compared to the untreated shoots.