RijkZwaan has incorporated the oxidation-delaying property to its lettuce range for sale by heads.
The seed company held its Winter Open Field Days e-vent 2021 at the CED La Palma, in Cartagena, using a mixed onsite and online format. At the event, it showed the extensive possibilities of its leaf and brassica portfolio for the entire chain of value, emphasising the future trends and the innovation keys that characterise them. Its development is based on four pillars: flavour, colour, resistances and post-harvest, both in conventional crops and in its ecological catalogue, with varieties of lettuce, brassicas, spinach, celery and escarole available, all delivering maximum resistances.
At the field days, concepts already known on the markets such as its Lettuce Snack (spoon-shaped leaves used for healthy culinary proposals due to their flavour, crunchy texture and resistance to heat); Crunchy Cos (a crunchy lettuce with a prominently sweet flavour and excellent conservation as FunTastyCos®, in medium and large sizes); and the Salanova line (which continues to grow with new combinations of Salatrio).
But without any doubt, one of the great new developments was the incorporation of its Knox property to other whole head typologies for sale as fresh produce. Knox delays oxidation at the base of the stem and it minimises oxidation in case of breakages during handling and transport, which means a reduction in waste and greater satisfaction and fewer complaints by clients. It also gives its lettuces a better appearance for longer and it lengthens their shelf-life, advantages both for the distribution chains and for the end consumers.
Amongst the concepts that have been developed recently, José Luis Saiz, the Lettuce Client Manager, underscored the enormous potential of Salanova Teen Leaf. The sector is moving towards the mechanisation of all its processes and Rijk Zwaan has been working to anticipate solutions for some time now. Salanova Teen Leaf is included in these developments. They are multi-leaf materials for high density planting (30-40 plants/m2), with different leaf formats (8-10 cm and even 12 cm, depending on the quality being sought); and with the added advantage of being able to completely work them using mechanisation. “There are leaves that are similar to lollos, romaines, batavias… They are designed for machine harvesting and then to be sent to the preparation plant for washing, mixing and bagging, eliminating a large part of the labour needed up to now.” Its large volume and long shelf-life, along with the Knox property are other advantages of the varieties included under this umbrella.
Visitors could confirm all of this at the Mechanical e-vent, field days with direct sowing mechanisation and mechanised harvesting by the company Ibarra Lorca.
Its award-winning Spicy Sparkle was also present, a mixture between rocket and lambs lettuce, which won the award for innovation at Fruit Attraction 2019.
Return to sprouts
In brassicas, “the pandemic has brought back a taste for traditional produce to consumers. As people are eating at home more, products such as Brussels sprouts have gained presence,” the Specialist in the crop, José Hernández, assured.
In broccoli, Larsson “has become a reference product” and the new development 25BR-729 RZ (for transplanting from the end of October and throughout November, even reaching the 15th of December) is on the same track due to its great post-harvest. This variety completes all the crop cycles with the same quality as Casper RZ.
Colourful and with excellent shapes for the company’s cauliflower proposals, with the vibrant shades of colour (even in the stem) of Lavender and the new romanesco broccoli with perfect fractals, ideal for the highly popular snack produce mixes.
Its line of mini pointed cabbage, Cabbisi, is growing with new varieties and in the large formats Licma RZ continues to be promoted, and 30-PC607 RZ has also been added.
In the most traditional segment, the easy-to-peel and highly flavoured flat cabbage 30WC-728 RZ has been launched.
