Sweet cherry maturity date and fruit quality are relevant traits for its marketability, transport, and consumer acceptance. In this work, sweet cherry fruit development time, maturity date, and commercial fruit-quality traits (size, weight, firmness, soluble solid content, and titratable acidity) were investigated to improve the knowledge of their genetic control, and to identify alleles of breeding interest. Six sweet cherry populations segregating for these traits were used for QTL analyses. These populations descend from cross- and self-pollinations of local Spanish sweet cherries ‘Ambrunés’ and ‘Cristobalina’, and breed cultivars (‘Brooks’, ‘Lambert’, or ‘Vic’). The six populations (n = 411), previously genotyped with RosBREED Cherry 6 K SNP array, were phenotyped for 2 years. QTL analyses were conducted using a multifamily approach implemented by FlexQTL^™. Fruit development time, soluble solid content, and titratable acidity QTLs are first reported in sweet cherry in this work. Significant QTLs were detected for all the traits. Eighteen were more stable as they were detected for 2 years. Of these, nine are first reported in this work. The major QTLs for fruit development time, maturity date, firmness, and soluble solid content were identified on the same narrow region of linkage group 4. These traits also showed significant positive correlation (long fruit development time associated with late maturity, high firmness, and high SSC). NAC transcription factor genes identified on this LG4 region may be candidate genes for the regulation of these traits in sweet cherry, as previously described in syntenic regions of other Rosaceae species. Haplotypes of breeding interest on this LG4 genomic region were identified and will be useful for sweet cherry breeding from this and related plant material.

Bloom time in sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) is a highly heritable trait that varies between genotypes and depends on the environmental conditions. Bud-break occurs after chill and heat requirements of each genotype are fulfilled, and dormancy is released. Bloom time is a critical trait for fruit production as matching cultivar adaptation to the growing area is essential for adequate fruit set. Additionally, low chilling cultivars are of interest to extend sweet cherry production to warmer regions, and for the crop adaptation to increasing winter and spring temperatures. The aim of this work is to investigate the genetic control of this trait by analyzing multiple families derived from the low chilling and extra-early flowering local Spanish cultivar ‘Cristobalina’ and other cultivars with higher chilling requirements and medium to late bloom times. Bloom time evaluation in six related sweet cherry populations confirmed a high heritability of this trait, and skewed distribution toward late flowering, revealing possible dominance of the late bloom alleles. SNP genotyping of the six populations (n = 406) resulted in a consensus map of 1269 SNPs. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis using the Bayesian approach implemented by FlexQTL™ software revealed two major QTLs on linkage groups 1 and 2 (qP-BT1.1m and qP-BT2.1m) that explained 47.6% of the phenotypic variation. The QTL on linkage group 1 was mapped to a 0.26 Mbp region that overlaps with the DORMANCY ASSOCIATED MADS-BOX (DAM) genes. This finding is consistent with peach results that indicate that these genes are major determinants of chilling requirement in Prunus. Haplotype analysis of the linkage group 1 and 2 QTL regions showed that ‘Cristobalina’ was the only cultivar tested that contributed early bloom time alleles for these two QTLs. This work contributes to knowledge of the genetic control of chilling requirement and bloom date and will enable marker-assisted selection for low chilling in sweet cherry breeding programs.