The company offers 40 varieties of pepper, over half with resistance to Lt
Since the 1st of January, Syngenta has grown. The entire Zeraim seed catalogue in Spain is marketed under the Syngenta brands. And this has turned its pepper portfolio into the most complete one on the market (regarding California typology), with 40 references, 37 of them varieties of California and 3 de Lamuyo. The company’s commitment to resistances is also worth mentioning: of the 37 California references, 26 have resistance to powdery mildew.
These figures mean it is much too overwhelming to try to tackle its extensive offer in a single article. With regard to the producers, it could be said that they have a more extensive range to choose from at their disposal. And they will not fail, because in all the references quality and vegetable health have been given priority. Alejandro Pascual, Pepper Product Development Specialist at Syngenta Iberia, is certain that “the market will take it upon itself to evaluate this new catalogue and a decision will be made, taking its needs into account, as to which varieties remain in the end.”
For the late cycle they offer 6 or 7 references, all of them optimum, resistant to Lt and 80% of them with resistance to nematodes.
“Few countries can offer the quality and safety that peppers from Almeria offer. Our agriculture is excellent. Everything that helps with more genetic resistances is welcome,” Alejandro Pascual comments. In fact, at Syngenta they have known how to get ahead of the demand and they have promoted a “revolution in late cycle”. “Although the incidence of powdery mildew has not been very significant, suddenly the demand for materials with these resistances shot up and, with the new genetics of the varieties, we offer a range with different sizes and for virtually every week of planting.”
From its portfolio, Hokkaido and Saitama should be mentioned, the most popular last year amongst the company’s clients. “It is quite easy to obtain 7-8 kg/m2 of production in late cycle, a very good yield for these dates. Additionally, they are quite generative varieties.” Both materials seek to improve the Melchor variety, which made the sector earn a great deal of money, with an excellent fruit quality (very square) and size homogeneity, with virtually no incidence of silvering.
In its offer, Akane and Churchill also stand out, with GG calibre, for planting at the end of July; Gengis Kan, with G-GG fruit, and Masami, with a higher percentage of G calibre. And for the 1st of August they have Sensei, a counterpart of Masamique, but that is differentiated by having a higher percentage of G calibre and Leontes, another of the options for plantations from the 1st of August onwards due to the vigour of its plant and its good behaviour at low temperatures.
In addition to its late cycle offer, Syngenta has made a foray into early cycle with varieties such as Ayax (G-GG), Ayumi (with nematodes and G-GG) and Jabana (GG).
Regarding colours, Alejandro Pascual lists the options offered in yellow California, with Kaamos (from the 20th of July), and Barrera, which are mainly distinguished due to their calibres, GG and G, respectively.
In orange California, this year they have four varieties with Lt resistance: Kaori, Nozomi (launched last year), Gambito and Narvik, with which they cover the planting from the 1st of July to the 10th of August.
In the Lamuyo segment, they have Vortex, with resistance to L4 and spotted, for planting from the end of July to the end of August, and he advances: “we are working on the introduction of a new Lamuyo variety with resistance to Lt.”
