Turkey: New cherry varieties for European market
Nejdet Kaplan chairman of the General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policy, introduced the new varieties in a statement, explaining that the cherries grown in the institute’s garden have taken 15 years of work on the cherries’ mutation and hybridization.
Kaplan states that they completed the production of the two new types of cherry towards the end of last year and registered them recently with the names ‘Burak’ and ‘Aldamla’.
The ‘Burak’ and ‘Aldamla’ cherries were produced using a different dosage of irradiation, explains Kaplan, “The special feature of these two varieties is that they have a slightly darker flesh colour. Why is so much importance put into the flesh colour? Our exporters and European consumers prefer cherries with darker flesh.”
There are 400 different types of cherry at the institute, amongst these there are variations in the firmness of the flesh, the size, quality, and the growth of the plant.
Director at Yalova Ataturk Central Horticultural Research Institute, Yilmaz Boz states that they are constantly working in-house to create new varieties of fruit and vegetables. In the last 5 years the institute has developed a total of 23 new varieties, Boz describes, “At the institute we have created two new types of cherry and cranberry, 7 of strawberry, 6 grape, 1 walnut, 1 onion and 1 broccoli."
Source: hurriyet.com.tr
