Cacanska najbolja

Čačanska Najbolja is a premium domestic plum variety, developed at the Fruit Research Institute in Čačak by Dr. Staniša A. Paunović, Dr. Milojko Ranković, and Dr. Dobrivoje Ogašanović, and released into production in 1975. It was created through planned crossing of Wangenheims Frühzwetsche and Požegača. Due to its giant fruit size, beautiful visual appearance, and unsurpassed flesh firmness, it is one of the most valued, most expensive, and most sought-after export table plum varieties on the entire European market.

It is a fully cross-pollinated variety with sterile pollen. It is considered self-sterile and male-sterile, which means that it cannot fertilize itself, nor can it serve as a pollinator for other varieties in the orchard. For this reason, the presence of at least two compatible pollinator varieties that flower at the same time is essential in orchards. Its best and field-proven pollinators are Čačanska Lepotica, Čačanska Rodna, and Stanley. It flowers medium-early.

The tree is extremely vigorous, strong, and robust, with powerful scaffold branches that form a spacious, broad-pyramidal, and medium-dense canopy with wide branch angles. It enters full bearing somewhat later compared to other Čačak varieties, around the fourth or fifth year after planting. It is prone to irregular bearing and yield variation if weather conditions during flowering are not ideal. Due to its strong natural vigor, it requires regular pruning, mandatory intensive bending and training of branches during the first three years, as well as increased boron and zinc treatments in order to stimulate fertilization and productivity.

It belongs to the group of medium-early August plum varieties. In our region and under continental climatic conditions, it ripens in the first half of August, usually between August 10 and 15, around 10–12 days before Stanley.

Harvesting takes place during the first half of August. One of the greatest advantages of this variety is that the fruit can remain on the tree for a long time, even more than 10 days after full maturity, without losing quality or firmness and without dropping, which significantly extends and facilitates the harvest period.

It is characterized by exceptionally good storage ability. In fresh condition, it can be successfully kept in cold storage for 2–3 weeks, which is considerably longer than most other varieties. Due to its extremely firm and crisp flesh, the fruit tolerates picking, rough mechanical sizing, packing, and long-distance transport perfectly, without the risk of crushing or juice leakage. It is primarily intended for premium fresh table consumption and export, while in industry it is the number one variety for deep freezing and cutting into halves.

The fruit is exceptionally large to giant, with an average weight of 45 to over 55 g, while in optimal conditions individual fruit can reach over 65 g. It is uniform and regular, with an ovoid to roundish-oval shape. The skin is thick, firm, and elastic, intense dark blue to black-blue at full maturity, and completely covered with a very dense, attractive, light blue waxy bloom. The flesh is intense yellow to amber at full maturity, exceptionally firm, compact, juicy, and distinctly crisp. The taste is refreshing, acidic-sweet, and harmonious, while at full technological maturity it develops a fine varietal aroma. The stone is large, and the variety belongs to the group of true freestone plums: it separates from the flesh completely easily and cleanly.

It is a highly tolerant variety to Plum pox virus, which is a major cultivation advantage in the field. Even if the tree becomes infected, the virus does not cause premature fruit drop or fruit damage, so it can be successfully grown in infected areas. It shows excellent resistance of the wood to winter frosts and drought. On the other hand, it is susceptible to plum rust and blight, so in humid years it requires regular preventive chemical protection.

Our plum fruit trees are produced on the highly compatible, standard rootstock Myrobalan plum, Prunus cerasifera, with which this variety achieves a perfect graft union, excellent tree longevity, and outstanding adaptability to different soil types.