The Quest For The Perfect Vegetable Variety

Vegetable seed breeders have a tough job. Why? Well, for starters it takes a long time to get a variety to market — sometimes more than 10 years. They have to look into their crystal balls to know what to develop for production several years down the road.

Plus, they have to keep both the grower and the consumer in mind when developing varieties. We asked several seed breeders questions about their jobs, the breeding process, and the next big developments that you will see more on in future issues and on GrowingProduce.com.

Here we are focusing on some of the recent varieties breeders have developed that cater to growers’ needs while focusing on consumer qualities that will keep people coming back for more. Check out what several breeders had to say.

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Bryant Long for web

Bryant Long, Abbott & Cobb

SS2742 sweet corn from Abbott & Cobb

SS2742 sweet corn from Abbott & Cobb

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Abbott & Cobb, Bryant Long, Sweet Corn Breeder  

We recently received a worldwide utility patent on a new genetic system. We call it SSW® which stands for SuperSeedWare®. We call it that because we are playing off the software computer code and ours is a new genetic code. Some of these SSW varieties include SS7403RY, SS2742, and SS7078Y.

What is so special about these varieties is that the seed is not at all like what we call ‘cornflake’ super sweet kernels. It looks more like dent corn and that results in a tremendous advantage of seedling vigor, seed storability, root formation, and overall yield.

Consumer advantages relate to increased sweetness and tenderness, visual appearance, and overall eating quality.

 

 

Nunhems' Yen Ming Chang

Yen Ming Chang, Nunhems

Embasy from Nunhems

Embasy from Nunhems

Bayer CropScience, Vegetable Seeds, Nunhems USA, Inc., Yen Ming Chang,  Watermelon Breeder 

We are launching a new variety called Embasy. This variety responds to what our customers have been asking us for.

Bayer CropScience Vegetable Seeds’ watermelons are known for the high yield and field holding capability. Embasy is no exception. It features a darker, more attractive rind pattern and deep-red flesh. It is uniform with a size between 17 and 20 pounds with crispy texture and high Brix.

Most of all, this watermelon is adaptable everywhere it has been grown.

 

Purple Haze from Crookham

Purple Haze from Crookham

Dave Whitwood, Crookham

Dave Whitwood, Crookham

Crookham Co., Dave Whitwood,  Onion Breeder   

Growers were looking for new red varieties to fit the consumer needs driven by several national food chains. These food chains began requesting red onions with single centers and a consistent red coloring throughout.

We developed several new varieties to fit these consumer requirements. One of the varieties was Purple Haze.

Growers found that this variety fit the consumer demand and was well-suited for long-term storage. Purple Haze also matures in a time slot that is more favorable for many of the long-day onion growing regions in the U.S.

 

Hazera's Mark van der zouwen for web

Mark van der Zouwen, Hazera

Ocelot watermelon from Hazera

Ocelot watermelon from Hazera

Hazera Seeds, Mark van der Zouwen, Cucurbits Global Product Manager

Our new watermelon variety Ocelot offers growers and shippers an attractive and uniform watermelon featuring an ideal personal size and a long shelf life. The buyer will be rewarded with an appealing sweet and tasty product presenting an attractive deep-red flesh color.

 

 

Bill Copes, HM Clause

Bill Copes, HM Clause

Fiji melon from HM Clause

Fiji melon from HM Clause

HM Clause, Bill Copes, Melon Breeder 

Our Fiji melon is a long-shelf-life type, and it is well adapted to U.S. growing conditions, particularly in Arizona and California.

There are a few things that are unique about Fiji, such as its harvest flexibility. In other words, Fiji has good capacity for field holding, which allows growers to better manage their harvest. It allows them to wait a few days on Fiji and then go in and harvest at an optimal time and still have fruit quality. We have had fields of Fiji that were harvested in one pass and the grower never went back in because they got 95% of the potential yield off that one pass.

For the consumer, Fiji’s benefit is eating quality.

Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Rob Johnston founder and chairman, and Lindsay Wyatt squash and pumpkin breeder

Butterscotch from Johnny's Selected Seeds

Butterscotch from Johnny’s Selected Seeds

 

Rpb Johnston

Rpb Johnston

Lindsay Wyatt

Lindsay Wyatt

One of our latest winter squash introductions is a small-fruited, sweet-tasting squash called Butterscotch. Taste is always important, and this variety has an outstanding flavor, but it is also a smaller size as there is a trend toward smaller-fruited squash.

The average weight of Butterscotch is between 1.25 to 1.5 pounds. In addition, this variety is easy to grow, resists powdery mildew, and matures early.

 

 

Johan Schut, Rijk Zwaan

Johan Schut, Rijk Zwaan

Rijk Zwaan, Johan Schut, Lettuce Breeder Patrona_RZ for web
Patrona is an open-heart Romaine that combines grower qualities such as slow bolting, strength against internal tipburn, strength against fringe burn, and aphid and downy mildew resistance.

On the consumer side, it has good taste, less browning, and good shelf life. Plus, the open-headed Romaine types produce a high number of uniform shaped leaves ideal for single-leaf uses. Using lettuce wraps with these varieties is a good example of expanding a traditional category toward some innovative uses.

 

Nihat Guner, Sakata Seed America

Nihat Guner, Sakata Seed America

Secretariat from Sakata Seed America

Secretariat from Sakata Seed America

Sakata Seed America, Nihat Guner, Watermelon Breeder 

The Sakata watermelon program is a global one. When you look at the global market, the top two traits growers are looking for are yield and earliness, so those are the traits for which I breed.

About five or six years ago, Sakata brought earliness to the market with Citation, which matures in 77 days. Later, Bold Ruler, Secretariat, and Charismatic were introduced as early, 45-count segment hybrids. Secretariat is the only early and firm-flesh hybrid on the market.

Consumers enjoy eating Sakata’s watermelons because of the excellent flavor, tiny pip size, and crunchy, deeper-red flesh and attractive demarcation.

 

Buskirk_Patty Seeds by Design for web

Patty Buskirk, Seeds By Design

Chef's Choice Orange, Seeds By Design

Chef’s Choice Orange, Seeds By Design

Seeds By Design, Patty Buskirk, Vegetable Breeder, Tomatoes 

Small commercial growers and market gardeners are asking for regional tomato varieties that have flavor, basic disease resistance, and taste like an heirloom. For the commercial grower,
disease resistance is a must. We are selling the heirloom hybrid variety Pink Brandymaster in California and it is working very well for both commercial and market gardeners.

We are also selling Chef’s Choice Orange in the semi-professional trade and commercial bedding plant market. Chef’s Choice Orange is actually an F1 heirloom orange tomato. Both varieties offer a basic disease resistance package, exceptional yield, and incredible flavor.

 

Bill McCarthy, Seminis

Bill McCarthy, Seminis

Antebellum from Seminis

Antebellum from Seminis

Seminis, Bill McCarthy, Pepper Breeder 

We have a new variety in the South called Antebellum. It is an X10R green bell pepper, which means it has resistance to races 0-10 of bacteria leaf spot. The variety also has spotted wilt resistance.

The [gene] markers helped us move Antebellum along in the breeding process at little faster clip than in the past and the product has a little darker green color the growers like. Consumers can benefit from the flavor and color, too.

Plus, we have another pepper product for the Southeast coming out called Green Machine that also is a X10R with spotted wilt resistance.

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