Cherry variety: PA4UNIBO* Sweet Valina™

PA4UNIBO* Sweet Valina® is one of the 7 varieties of sweet cherry belonging to the “Sweet” series. These varieties come from a breeding programme which began in the early 2000s at the Department of Tree Crops (now the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences) at the Alma Mater Studiorum, with a precise “target”, i.e. to obtain six or seven varieties that could cover a harvesting period of at least 30-40 days, all with a “maximum” common denominator: fruits with excellent appearance, easily recognisable organoleptic qualities, obtained from trees with high agronomic performance and productivity.

• Tree: high vigour with semi-open canopy, good branching, standard bearing habit. Production mainly on the shoots and flowering buds at the base of the one-year old branches. 
• Flowering: intermediate, 3-4 days after Burlat. Self-compatible; allelic profile: S3S4; incompatibility group III (incompatible with Bing, Karina, Kristin, Lambert, Napoleon, Somerset, Star, Ulster, Selah® PC7046-3*, PA1UNIBO* Sweet Aryana®, PA2UNIBO* Sweet Lorenz®). Recommended pollinators: PA3UNIBO* Sweet Gabriel®, PA5UNIBO* Sweet Saretta®.
• Time of maturity: intermediate and uniform; harvest begins 18 to 20 days after Burlat depending on the year (same period as Summit and Black Star*). Good ripening resistance of the fruits on the plant.
• Fruit: large size (dominant calibre: 32-34mm; average weight 12-14 g), heart-shaped, symmetrical, very attractive. Medium-thin skin, red shiny colour (scale 4 CTIFL code) covering the whole surface, tending to dark red-purple and shiny when fully ripe (scale 5 CTIFL code). Surface suture line. Pink flesh with a good consistency, fleshy, juicy and aromatic, high quality, well-balanced flavour, very sweet, high acidity content. The main quali-quantitative parameters are given in tables 2 and 3. The sensory profile of the variety is given in figure 2 and in table 4. Long stalk, intermediate thickness. Medium large, freestone pit.
• Agronomic evaluation: medium-early fruiting on vigorous plants (III-IV year from planting out); constantly high cropping. Currently being tested dwarfing (Gisela 6® Gi148/2*) and semi-vigorous rootstocks (CAB 6P). In years with heavy rainfall, the fruits have high susceptibility to splitting, with localised damage mostly at the top and centre.

Patents and Trade Marks:

• Community plant variety right application (EU plant variety rights, c/o CPVO) no. 2012/1160 held by Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna. Varietal denomination PA4UNIBO*.
• Plant patent application (US patent, c/o USPTO) no. 13/986686 held by Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna.
• EU trade mark Sweet Valina® no. 11058609/2012 filed by the University of Bologna.

Licences:

European Union 

• Italy: Salvi Vivai, Top Plant Vivai, Vivai Fortunato and Vivai Spinelli (co-esclusivity) 
• Greece: Vitro Hellas  
• Spain: Tecniplant 2010 S.L.  
• Czech Republic: Fytos   
• Belgium: DEPA-Fruit  
• France: IFO  

Extra-EU:  

• Turkey: Parlar  
• Chile: ANA   
• South Africa: Stargrow  
• Australia: Graham's Factree (Multiplication agreeement); The Austral (Commercialization agreement) 
• New Zealand: Innovar (Evaluation&Option Agreement) 
• USA: Innovar (Evaluation&Option Agreement)

• Lugli S., Correale R., Grandi M., 2012. Serie Sweet: belle fuori, buone dentro. Sweet Series: beauties outside, delights inside. Frutticoltura - Supplement to no. 11-2012: 1-17.
• Lugli S., 2013. Sweet, delicious new cherries from Bologna University Sweet, la dolcezza delle ciliegie targate Unibo. Fresh Point Magazine. n. 4-2013: 50-55.
• Lugli S., Correale R., Grandi M., 2013. La nuova serie Sweet: primi risultati agronomici e qualitativi. Frutticoltura. n. 4-2013: 12-19.
• Lugli S., Correale R., Grandi M., 2014. Modificazioni nella qualità dei frutti in varietà della serie Sweet. Frutticoltura. n. 4-2014: 30-32