Fruit Development in Sweet Cherry

Edoardo Vignati; Marzena Lipska; Jim M Dunwell; Mario Caccamo; Andrew J Simkin

doi:10.3390/plants11121531

Fruit Development in Sweet Cherry

Plants (Basel). 2022 Jun 7;11(12):1531. doi: 10.3390/plants11121531.

Authors

Edoardo Vignati^{1

2}, Marzena Lipska¹, Jim M Dunwell², Mario Caccamo³, Andrew J Simkin^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ NIAB, New Road, East Malling ME19 6BJ, UK.
² School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6EU, UK.
³ NIAB, Cambridge Crop Research, Lawrence Weaver Road, Cambridge CB3 0LE, UK.
⁴ School of Biosciences, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NJ, UK.

Abstract

Fruits are an important source of vitamins, minerals and nutrients in the human diet. They also contain several compounds of nutraceutical importance that have significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory roles, which can protect the consumer from diseases, such as cancer, and cardiovascular disease as well as having roles in reducing the build-up of LDL-cholesterol in blood plasma and generally reduce the risks of disease and age-related decline in health. Cherries contain high concentrations of bioactive compounds and minerals, including calcium, phosphorous, potassium and magnesium, and it is, therefore, unsurprising that cherry consumption has a positive impact on health. This review highlights the development of sweet cherry fruit, the health benefits of cherry consumption, and the options for increasing consumer acceptance and consumption.

Keywords: Prunus avium; fruit ripening; rootstock; tree fruit.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

E.V. was supported by the ‘Understanding Fruit Development in the Cultivated Cherry’ project funded by Berry Gardens Growers Ltd. (Maidstone, UK), awarded to A.J.S.; E.V. and A.J.S. drafted and wrote the manuscript with input from M.C., J.M.D. and M.Z., who also edited the final version. A.J.S. is supported by the Growing Kent and Medway Program, UK; grant number 107139.