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The research was carried out in two private cherry fields in the outskirts of Ras al-Ma'arra town in Rif Dimashq Governorate and the laboratories of the Faculty of Agriculture, Damascus University, during the 2023 season, with the aim of studying the effect of foliar spraying with potassium sulphate solution (3 g/L), ethephon spraying (100, 250, 400 mg/L) and copper hydroxide (3 g/L) and their interaction in increasing the tolerance of Bing cherry trees to spring frost. Spraying with ethephon alone or in combination with other treatments contributed to delaying flowering, and the number of days of flowering delay increased with increasing the concentration of ethephon used. The treatment of spraying ethephon at a concentration of 400 mg/L and the combination of the two treatments of ethephon at a concentration of 250 mg/L and spraying with potassium sulphate solution gave the best values in terms of the percentage of fruit set (31.39, 29.06% respectively, and it was 5.83% in the control), and in terms of the percentage of flowers set and reaching the maturity stage (16.73, 17% respectively, and it was 2.66% in the control), and in terms of tree productivity (5.32, 5.58 kg/tree respectively, and it was 0.37 kg/tree in the control). While the previous two treatments recorded the lowest percentage of fallen fruit set (83.47, 83.27% respectively), it was 97.52% in the control, while the foliar spray treatment with potassium sulfate solution and the combination of the two treatments of ethephon spraying at a concentration of 250 mg/L and the foliar spray with potassium sulfate and the combination of the three treatments together gave the best value for the average fruit weight (8.60, 8.53, 8.64 g respectively) compared to the control (7.85 g). On the other hand, the foliar spray treatment with potassium sulfate and the combination of the two treatments of ethephon spraying at a concentration of 250 mg/L and the foliar spray with potassium sulfate gave the lowest percentage of titratable acids in cherry juice (1.821, 1.820% respectively) compared to the control (1.878%), while there were no significant differences between the treatments in terms of the cherry juice content of total soluble solids (TSS).
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Keywords: Creases avium, Spring frost, potassium, Ethephon, Copper.
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