Bitter cherries (Prunus avium var. sylvestris Ser.) represent a valuable raw material in the traditional Eastern European food industry with high potential within the horticultural chain and circular economy in the context of global food security due to exceptional nutritional properties. The present study was carried out in the period 2022–2024 and had as its main purpose the evaluation of the fruit quality and production indices of some bitter cherry cultivars suitable for the technological norms specific to industrial processing. Five bitter cherry cultivars (C₁-Amaris, C₂-Amar Maxut, C₃-Amar Galata, C₄-Silva, C₅-Amara) were studied and analyzed in terms of fruit quality—morpho-physiological and organoleptic traits, and physical and chemical parameters—and general productivity—tree vigor, fruiting, and yield indices. The results highlighted a wide variability in the physical characteristics of bitter cherries, with an average weight between 3.3 and 4.9 g and the color of the skin varying from yellow with redness to dark red and blackish. Regarding the chemical attributes, antioxidant activity was relatively higher in fruits with a more intense bitter taste (89.3 μg Trolox·g⁻¹ f.w for C₂ and 89.1 μg Trolox·g⁻¹ f.w. for C₄ and C₅), a fact also found in the content total of polyphenols (with a maximum value of 743.2 mg GAE·100 g⁻¹ f.w at C₂). Total soluble solids content had an average value of 20.51°Brix and titratable acidity of 0.85 g malic acid·100 g⁻¹ f.w. The influence of local environmental factors on the productivity of bitter cherry cultivars was highlighted by significant statistical differences (p < 0.05) between cultivars. Thus, the resistance to frost in the full flowering phenophase had an average value of 86.69%, and regarding the resistance to fruit cracking, the highest percentage was found in C₁, with 99.79% unaffected fruits. The productivity index per tree had an average value of 0.24 kg per cm² trunk cross-section area. The physico-chemical properties of the fruits and the productivity of bitter cherry cultivars support the possibility of their efficient use in processing and the food industry, yielding high-quality products with nutraceutical value.

Native genotypes of fruit species are an important source of phenotypic variability for breeding and provide valuable material for the creation of new cultivars. Therefore, the present study was conducted to characterize and decipher the phenotypic variability of 39 native cherry genotypes (Prunus avium L.) with some bitter taste from spontaneous or cultivated flora from the Northeast European region, in Romania. The research was conducted during 2018–2022 and aimed to analyze the biochemical composition and physical characteristics of the fruits in order to identify the most useful traits for dissemination. All genotypes presented small fruits but with exceptional nutraceutical properties. The highest fruit weight was observed in G10 and G11 (3.2 g). The highest total soluble solids was found in G19 and G25 (28.2°Brix and 26.0°Brix, respectively), and in terms of antioxidant capacity, the highest level was observed in G32 and G33 (98.22% and 96.71%, respectively). In the cluster analysis, wild cherry accessions were clustered into five groups of related genotypes, indicating that they were useful for evaluating the characterization of cherry germplasm due to the superior fruit weight and phenolic compounds content. The genotypes studied represent valuable phenotypic resources for enriching the cherry gene pool and improving important horticultural traits for increasing production and thus nutrition.

Climate change has had crucial impacts on phenological stages, such as the advancement or decline of the vegetation cycle of stone fruit trees. Vegetation phenology is an important biological indicator in understanding and predicting the behavior of ecosystems and how they respond to environmental factors. This work aims to investigate the influence of interannual climate variation (years 2023 and 2024) on the phenology of some stone fruit tree species belonging to the genus Prunus. The study was carried out within the fruit experimental plots of the Research Station for Fruit Growing (RSFG) Iași, North-Eastern Romania, analyzing the onset of four phenological stages from bud swelling to the end of flowering at five cultivars belonging to the species: Prunus avium L., Prunus cerasus L., Prunus domestica L. and Prunus armeniaca L. The research conducted on the climatic regime in the studied years, in relation to multiannual values (1972-2022), highlighted the variability of phenological behaviors of stone fruit species both in terms of the number of days (according to the Julian date methodology) for the start of vegetation, and in the duration of phenological stages. Thus, of the two years of study, the year 2024 was noted for an extension of the start of vegetation in cherry by 29 days, in plum by 21 days, in apricotl 12 days and in sour cherry by only one day compared to 2023. The obtained results highlight the variability of the phenological behaviors of the fruit tree species but also of the cultivars and the length of the vegetation period was directly influenced by annual climatic conditions. Changes in the duration of the vegetative phases were highlighted, which can generate useful information to predict the risk of late frosts in particular, but also countermeasures to combat the effects of climate change.