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2<br />
tomato & pepper/tomate & pimieNto<br />
ApRIl<br />
MAY<br />
2 0 0 7<br />
Creations for every taste<br />
Seed companies successfully multiplying speciality vegetables<br />
Truly innovative vegetables are stealing<br />
a lead on improvements in taste or<br />
shapes.<br />
Gauthier Semences has new<br />
capsicum varieties<br />
Gauthier Semences has recently<br />
strengthened its team of geneticists<br />
in order to devote greater efforts to researching<br />
sweet peppers with the aim<br />
of bringing out new varieties that respond<br />
to the growers’ needs for high<br />
yield and resistance to viruses and<br />
diseases and the retail distribution<br />
chains’ needs for firmness and long<br />
life. The firm’s research is mostly focusing<br />
on California, Rectangular and<br />
Italian types, and also on rootstocks.<br />
Kouros (a red California-type variety)<br />
has been in trials in the Murcia region<br />
for the past two years, transplanted<br />
in December/January and harvested<br />
from March to September, with promising<br />
results. The plant shows medium<br />
vigour and sets very well and<br />
very early. The fruit are rectangular,<br />
size G, with a thick wall, giving them a<br />
very good firmness and shelf-life. This<br />
variety is resistant to TSWV.<br />
As regards rootstocks, Gauthier has<br />
brought out Brutus, which has a strong<br />
root system and is recommended for<br />
soils infested with Phytophthora capsici<br />
and nematodes or tired soils.<br />
Hazera Genetics, a new style<br />
This seed company is targeting its<br />
novelties according to three lifestyles<br />
detected among consumers: taste,<br />
health and practicality. Under the umbrella<br />
of Hazera Genetics Lifestyle TM,<br />
the varieties constitute a new brand<br />
that the company has been investing<br />
heavily in for the past 5 years in<br />
order to answer a question: What do<br />
consumers want to eat? In the Taste<br />
category, Hazera Genetics Lifestyle<br />
now offers a flavourful range of tomatoes<br />
(cocktail, vine, cherry) under the<br />
Hazera Boutique TM. Hazera Vitalis<br />
TM offers a ‘super-vitamin’ sweet pepper,<br />
Vitamin, and a tomato with a high<br />
lycopene content. On the practical<br />
side, Hazera To Go TM, mini cucumbers<br />
and peppers make snacking easy<br />
and a small watermelon is easier to<br />
consume. A new lifestyle, but still protected<br />
by trademarks.<br />
Semillas Fito: successes<br />
anticipated<br />
Encouraged by 2 years’ success in<br />
Spain, Semillas Fito is preparing to<br />
roll out its El Huerto de Claudio range<br />
of authentic flavour tomatoes in other<br />
markets, adapting the name to the<br />
language of each country and choosing<br />
an exclusive distributor. Following<br />
the successful introduction of A Horta<br />
do Cláudio in Portugal, grown by the<br />
PAM Group and listed by the main Portuguese<br />
multiple, Modelo Continente,<br />
Le Jardin de Claude will be distributed<br />
in France by Exportex (Perpignan) from<br />
this coming September. The range<br />
includes Tomacó (for spreading on<br />
bread), Delicia (cherry tomato) and<br />
Saboríssimo (a deep green size M tomato<br />
for salads).<br />
EUROFRESH<br />
DISTRIBUTION<br />
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Other specialities will also target the<br />
French and British markets in particular<br />
this autumn: Crunchy is the name<br />
of a new type of courgette, very firm<br />
and with an unusual appearance (twocolour<br />
skin), intended for eating in<br />
salads. The Catalan company also has<br />
high hopes of a new cantaloup melon<br />
with a very high sugar content (minimum<br />
14º instead of the 12º of current<br />
varieties). It has a smooth, cream-coloured<br />
skin, orangey flesh and taste<br />
characteristics that are comparable<br />
to a traditional charentais type melon:<br />
perfumed and a pronounced flavour<br />
with a good aftertaste.<br />
The Bigram truss tomato is another of<br />
the Catalan seed company’s new varieties.<br />
It is a true innovation in the vine<br />
tomato range as it mostly produces<br />
size G fruit (67-82 mm). This long-life<br />
type variety with deep red fruits is also<br />
showing remarkable agronomic qualities:<br />
very vigorous plants, long cycle<br />
and no pollinisation problems in winter.<br />
Also, the fruit is carried on a thick<br />
stalk, which avoids strangling.<br />
Seminis develop<br />
snack tomatoes<br />
Following the launch of its Dolcelino/<br />
Pepolino/Peperino mini-capsicum<br />
range, Seminis is rolling out a new<br />
range of tomatoes with strong taste<br />
potential. “Colorino is a pink cherry<br />
tomato with packaging designed for<br />
the snacks market and Ovalino is a<br />
very sweet (over 12º Brix) oval cocktail<br />
tomato with a great taste”, commented<br />
Luciano Fioramonti, the Seminis<br />
marketing manager. «These products<br />
are suited to a market that is growing<br />
in the United Kingdom and we are trialling<br />
in Spain», he explained. «They
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