In Ukraine sweet cherries is a traditional early-ripening crop, the fruits of which due to their high consumer and dietary properties are in unlimited demand in the fresh produce market. The main areas of its industrial plantations are concentrated mainly in the Steppe zone. At the same time, significant achievements of Ukrainian scientists in the creation of adapted large-fruited varieties, highly productive winter-resistant rootstocks and effective types of plantings contribute to the active spread of culture in the forest-steppe zone, which until recently was considered limitedly suitable for its cultivation. This requires careful study and selection of an industrial assortment with high consumer qualities of fruits. To assess the chemical composition, including the content of dry soluble substances, sugars, organic acids and vitamin C, fruits of 27 promising varieties of different ripening periods, grown in the plantings of the Institute of Horticulture of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on a medium-sized clonal rootstock «Krymsk 5», were selected using generally accepted methods. Different variety changeability was established in terms of the chemical fruits composition, in particular, low – for the content of dry soluble substances, sugars and acids, and high – for the content of vitamin C. Under favorable weather conditions among the varieties of the early ripening period, the fruits of the «Dzherelo» variety were noted for their best sugar content (17.66%), medium – «Vasylisa Prekrasna» (18.73%) and late – «Annushka» and «Donetska Krasunya» (16.58-16.93%) and on average during the research years they accumulated sugars of 13.17- 14.41%. The same varieties, as well as «Stark Hardy Giant», «Novynka Turovtseva» and «Etyka», on average during the research years accumulated the largest amount of dry soluble substances – 17.6-20.5%. Over the research years the fruits of all cherry varieties, regardless of the ripening period, accumulated an average of 0.76-0.86% of organic acids. The lowest acidity indicators (0.61-0.66%) were noted in the yellow-fruited varieties «Nizhnist», «Lyubava» and «Donchanka», which also differ in the lower content of vitamin C – 4.58-5.5 mg/100g. Early ripening varieties are characterized by a higher ability to accumulate it (10.4-10.7 mg/100g). In the group of late ripening varieties «Novynka Turovtseva» (10.1 mg/100g) stands out according to this indicator, among the medium-ripening varieties – «Vasylisa Prekrasna» (11.71 mg/100g), which according to organoleptic evaluation and a set of indicators stood out as the best among the studied varieties. The research has established that in terms of chemical composition these sweet cherry fruits were not inferior to those grown in the Southern Steppe zone of Ukraine.

Key words: sweet cherry, varieties, dry soluble substances, sugars, organic acids, sugar-acid index, vitamin C.