In its Demo Days, Syngenta displayed high quality varieties, such as the Piel de Sapo Airen
Over 300 professionals from the sector including producers, technicians and purchasing managers for the large retail chains on a worldwide scale came together in July in Syngenta’s improvement centre in Torre Pacheco (Murcia) to discover the company’s catalogue of melon and watermelon varieties.
Within the first segment, the company is developing varieties centred on flavour, on the one hand, and with firmer flesh, on the other. In the first case, the latest development that they have launched is the Piel de Sapo Airen, which responds to the market demands and has become a national reference, as its combines in a balanced way a high level of sugar with firm flesh and good conservation, both in the field and post-harvest. This material extends the range of other Piel de Sapo varieties such as Jimenado, Sancho, Batidor, Ibérico and Velasco.
During the Demo Days, Víctor García, Curcubitaceae Product manager for Iberia, also described the characteristics of another piel de sapo, the MP5344, similar to Airen and that will help to complete the production cycles with earlier transplants for open air crops.
With more focus on the Murcia region, in Piel de Sapo they presented Armero and Dominio; and within the Charentais range, Arpón and Tazha, which are becoming very popular in France.
In watermelons, the striped Red Jasper (which has become consolidated in Almeria in a record time) and Kasmira (open air) are both worth mentioning due to their great versatility. Both are suitable for the national market and for export due to their excellent flavour, internal quality, conservation and high production.
In striped watermelons for export, there is Prestige, small in size, with great flavour and internal quality. In mini triploids, we could see options such as Bibo, Dorin, Precious Petite or Master.
