"Ferrovia" e "Germersdorfer": caratterizzazioni isoenzimatiche a confronto

The results obtained from researches carried out by the Istituto di Coltivazioni Arboree of the University of Bari on numerous sweet cherry cultivars from different origins allowed to identify the cultivars best fitting the Apulian territory. Moreover, many morphological and biological traits, including cross-incompatibility, make Ferrovia and Germersdorfer similar. Ferrovia is commonly considered an Apulian native cultivar, though its genealogy is unknown. Germersdorfer is an old German cultivar, of unknown genealogy, cultivated in east-central Europe. In order to better characterize Ferrovia, an isozyme study was carried out by comparing this cultivar and Germersdorfer with Bing, an American cultivar genetically and morphologically different from the two former. Nine enzyme systems (GOT, IDH, MDH, ME, G6PDH, PGI, PRX, SKDH, SOD) were tested and all of them revealed to be monomorphic between Ferrovia and Germersdorfer, whereas 5 isozymes (GOT, MDH, PGI, SKDH, SOD) showed polymorphism between Bing and the two above mentioned cultivars. The complete enzymatic correspondence between Ferrovia and Germersdorfer suggests that the remarkable morphological and biological similarities may have a genetic base. In the literature some cases of homonymy have been ascertained, on the basis of isozyme analyses, between cherry cultivars showing similar traits. In our study, on the contrary, the absence of polymorphism between Ferrovia and Germersdorfer suggests that the two cultivars are genetically very similar.