Physicochemical characterization of fruit quality traits in a German sour cherry collection

A high phenotypic variability with significant differences between cultivars has been found for each of the fruit quality traits studied. Dependent on the trait, a certain number of cultivars were observed that showed lower or higher values than the commercially grown cultivars involved in this study. The favorable characteristics of a number of cultivars were consolidated by lower-year-by year variations in comparison to those of some commercial cultivars. The diversity of the physicochemical traits in the germplasm evaluated represents a basis for the selective choice of genotypes for commercial growing and breeding programs.