EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURAL SCIENCE, vol.74, no.3, pp.118-123, 2009 (SCI-Expanded)
Physiological disorders (deep suture, fruit cracking, and double fruit), and fruit quality of Van' sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) cultivar in relation with irrigation, gibberellic acid (GA(3)) and nitrogen (urea) were studied. Irrigation treatments were tested as 100% (full irrigation), 50% (moderate water stress) and 20% (severe water stress) replenishment of water depleted from the 100% replenishment treatment at 90 cm soil profile at ten day intervals. GA3 and nitrogen were applied to trees during flower bud differentiation period at the doses of 100 mg L-1 and 900 mg L-1, respectively. Lowest amount of double fruits were obtained from I-50+N+GA(3) application. Deep suture were most seen in the fruits exposed to moderate water stress plus nitrogen application. Fruit cracking was not affected statistically significant by any of the applications. All of the quality attributes of cherry fruits were statistically influenced by all the treatments and weather conditions.