Current situation and strategies of sweet cherry breeding in Zhejiang province

Abstract：Sweet cherry is an important fruit in the world due to its nutrition and economical value. The development of sweet cherry in Zhejiang province is the requirement of diversification of fruit industry and the demand of fruit market. Sweet cherry is one of the best fruits for the development of urban creative agriculture and leisure agriculture due to the delicious taste, beautiful color and early mature time.By reviewing the practice of induction, cultivation and breeding of sweet cherry in Zhejiang province, we proposed the breeding goal, method and development stage for sweet cherry in Zhejiang province, and suggested some excellent varieties suitable for planting. Zhejiang province isn't a suitable growth area for sweet cherry in the traditional meaning. Therefore, the main breeding goal for sweet cherry is to choose varieties which can get economic yield. Breeding goal can be divided into three stages: shortterm, medium-term and long-term. The short-term breeding goal of sweet cherry is early economical cropping. The medium term breeding goal is high commodity quality of the fruits. And the long term breeding goal is to select highly competitive fruit characters to meet different consumption group. The introduction of new varieties is still important for selecting suitable varieties for Zhejiang. Hybridization breeding should be paid more attention due to the potential of breeding new varieties suitable for the local condition. Zhejiang has the advantages in selecting new varieties through hybridization because its warm climate enabling the hybrids to get early fruit bearing in short time. The new selection'Jiangnanhong'was bred by the crossing ('Hongdeng'×'Lapins') in Zhejiang. we proposed to develop varieties of'Hongmi''Summit''Brooks' 'Rainier''Van'and'Lapins' plant in Zhejiang for their early economical cropping.