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© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Dormancy breakers are widely employed in regions with an insufficient chill accumulation to enhance floral bud break in sweet cherry production. Dormex (HC) has not been authorized in Europe and many other countries due to its detrimental effects on human health (carcinogenic) and the environment. This situation has increased the demand for alternative chemicals to HC. The current study was conducted in an orchard of 5-year-old ‘Royal Tioga®’ sweet cherry trees (Prunus avium L.) grafted on MaxMa 14 rootstocks in the Karayusuflu Village (at an altitude of 50 m), Adana, a Mediterranean city in Türkiye. Levante (LV) and HC were applied approximately 30 days before the anticipated dormancy break of the buds. Chill accumulation was quantified monthly during the 2023–2024 winter season using the chilling hours below 7.2 °C (467 h) and chill units (280 CUs). This study evaluated the effects of dormancy breakers on hormonal changes in floral buds, focusing specifically on gibberellic acid (GA3) and abscisic acid (ABA). Also, their impact on fruit set and quality parameters was assessed. The findings revealed that the LV and HC applications reduced the ABA content in flower buds during the dormancy period compared to the control. LV significantly improved bud break rates (56.8%) and fruit set (85.2%) while positively influencing the fruit quality parameters and yield. No significant differences between the LV and HC treatments were observed regarding average fruit weight (8.8–8.4 g) and yield values (3.7–3.5 kg tree−1). These results suggest LV as an alternative to HC for early-season cherry production in warm climates.

Details

Title
A Comparative Study of Dormex® and Biostimulant Effects on Dormancy Release, Productivity, and Quality in ‘Royal Tioga®’ Sweet Cherry Trees (Prunus avium L.)
Author
İmrak, Burhanettin 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Nesibe Ebru Kafkas 1 ; Çömlekçioğlu, Songül 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Bilgin, Ömer Faruk 2 ; Gölcü, Ayşegül Esra 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Burgut, Ayşegül 1 ; Şule Hilal Attar 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Küçükyumuk, Cenk 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Küçükyumuk, Zeliha 4 

 Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Çukurova, Adana 01330, Türkiye; [email protected] (N.E.K.); [email protected] (S.Ç.); [email protected] (A.E.G.); [email protected] (A.B.); [email protected] (Ş.H.A.) 
 Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Siirt, Siirt 56100, Türkiye; [email protected] 
 Department of Park and Gardening Plants, Vocational Training School, University of İzmir Demokrasi, İzmir 35140, Türkiye; [email protected] 
 Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Applied Sciences, Isparta 32000, Türkiye; [email protected] 
First page
250
Publication year
2025
Publication date
2025
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
23117524
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3181481599
Copyright
© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.