**1. Introduction**

Sweet cherries *(Prunus avium* L.) are one of the most attractive and appreciated spring–summer fruits, especially due to its attractive appearance, color, taste, and sweetness [1].

According to FAOSTAT (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), in 2018, 2,547,944 tons of sweet cherry were produced in the world, in a global cultivated area of 432,314 ha [2]. In that year, the main producers in the world were Turkey, United States of America, Uzbekistan, Chile, and Iran [2]. Within Europe, Italy (114,798 tons), Spain (106,584 tons), Romania (90,837 tons), and Greece (90,290 tons) were the top sweet cherry producing countries, while Portugal produced, in the same year, 17,461 tons in a total cultivated area of 6056 ha [2].

Sweet cherries are extremely perishable fruits (short shelf life of 7–14 days in air cold storage) with a short harvest season. Its quality is highly affected by the environmental conditions, since excessive rainfall before and during the harvest can lead to the fruit cracking. This physiological disorder causes production and economic losses [3,4] and originates from the excess uptake of water by the fruit surface, which results in localized bursting of the skin [5,6]. Other authors support that fruit cracking is the result of skin shrinking after rapid cooling caused by rainfall or by a sharp temperature drop [7]. Cracking in sweet cherries can be divided in macro-cracks (extending into the epidermal and hypodermal cell layers and visible to the naked eye) and micro-cracks (induced by water and not detected by visual inspection) [6,8]. According to [9], three different types of macro-cracking can occur in sweet cherries: in the cheek region, in the stylar scar region (apical end), and in the stem cavity region.

The cracking susceptibility is difficult to quantify in the field, since the level, distribution, and duration of rainfall, fruit maturity stage, orchard factors, and environmental conditions are not standardized [10]. Indeed, fruit cracking can be affected by several factors such as cultivar, growing conditions, rootstock, fruit size, flesh osmotic potential, cuticular characteristics of the skin, and stage of fruit development [3,11]. Among the several factors affecting the cracking of sweet cherry, the effect of the cultivar on this disorder was evaluated in the present work. The cultivars studied were Early Bigi and Lapins.

The cv. Early Bigi, also known as Bigi Sol, is a self-sterile cherry cultivar, large in size but with less flavor than other cultivars such as Burlat and Lapins. However, it is of great agronomic interest, since it is one of the very early cultivars produced in Resende.

The cv. Lapins, also marketed as Cherokee, is a hybrid of Van (variety very used in cross pollinations for its excellent attributes) and Stella (first self-fertile variety) cultivars and it is currently the sweet cherry cultivar most planted around the world. This cultivar is a late-season sweet cherry cultivar, ripening about one month later than Early Bigi. Its fruit is of excellent quality, producing some of the largest and juiciest of the sweet cherries. Furthermore, this cultivar is self-fertile and do not require a pollinator.

The sensitivity of different cultivars to cracking is not completely understood. However, some authors support that by choosing the right cultivar, it is possible to minimize the cracking incidence. The authors in [12,13] also defended that good results in productivity, fruit size, firmness, and tolerance against cracking were the main criteria for cultivar selection.

In this sense, the main objective of this work was to evaluate the fruit cracking incidence and cracking characteristics of two sweet cherry cultivars Early Bigi and Lapins (early vs. late) and correlate it with other fruit quality parameters, namely, fruit size and weight, firmness, epidermis rupture force, wax content, total soluble solids, titratable acidity, maturity index, and pH.
