CHERRY PRODUCTION

TECHNOLOGY
 OVERVIEW

Cherries are grown in many parts of the world on

commercial scale. It probably originated in the region

between the Caspian and Black Seas.

 Botanical classification

Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Prunus
Subgenus: Prunus subg. Cerasus
Section: P. sect. Cerasus
Species: P. avium
Binomial name
Prunus avium L.
 PLANT MORPHOLOGY

The cherry (Prunus avium Linn.; Family: Rosaceae) is a deciduous tree

growing to 15–32 m height, with a trunk up to 1.5m in diameter.
Young trees show strong apical dominance.
The bark is smooth purplish-brown becoming thick dark blackish-brown
and fissured on old trees.
The leaves are alternate, simple ovoid-acute, 7–14cm long and 4–7cm
broad, glabrous matt or sub-shiny green above, variably finely downy
beneath, with a serrated margin and an acuminate tip, with a green or
reddish petiole 2–3.5cm long bearing two to five small red glands.
 The tip of each serrated edge of the leaves also bear small red glands.
 FRUIT

 The fruit is a drupe 1–2cm in diameter (larger in some cultivated selections),

bright red to dark purple when mature in midsummer, edible, variably sweet
to somewhat astringent and bitter to eat fresh.
 Each fruit contains a single hard-shelled stone 8–12mm long, 7–10mm wide
and 6–8mm thick, grooved along the flattest edge; the seed (kernel) inside
the stone is 6–8mm long.
HEALTH BENEFITS AND USES
VARIETIES