Kiiroi and Kioto are the company’s newest developments. Along with Zeraim, the company occupies 40% of the pepper surface area in Almeria
The 2nd Early Pepper Open Days held by Dalias were the framework chosen by Syngenta to present two of their most recent developments in the yellow California segment: the most recent one, Kioto (BY140530), on the market since April, and before this one, they had launched Kiiroi, which has been on the market for two years now.
The manager for Peppers at Syngenta, Diego Díaz, explained to Fruit Today the main characteristics that each variety provides. Both are suitable for long production cycles and they have a great setting capacity, but they have differentiated advantages. In the case of Kioto, a new development is its resistance to nematodes and powdery mildew, in addition to the standard ones (high to Tm:0-3 and intermediate to TSWV). “The variety is very uniform in size and shape throughout the cycle; it has a very thick wall and an attractive yellow colour.”
On the other hand, Kiiroi is “incredibly productive” and stands out due to its easy setting both in hot and cold weather. Its fruit is “quite uniform” and it stands out due to its production (on the farm we could already see that they had harvested 6 kg and they still had a long way to go to finish the harvest), good conservation for early crops and homogeneous fruits, as well as due to their “perfect colour and size.” All of this bodes well for a growing evolution of the sales.
Díaz also advanced the characteristics of the red California, Osaka (BF141034). An earlier variety than the well-known Kabuki, which arrives to complete Syngenta’s range in red California peppers that are resistant to powdery mildew. The fruits of this material should be highlighted, with good colour, very homogeneous, productive and with G-GG calibres.
But the new developments in early peppers don’t stop there. Next year, Syngenta will continue adding new numbers and varieties about which they indicate that they will follow the line of quality and resistances guaranteed by the company. With good reason, between Syngenta and Zeraim they occupy “approximately 40% of the surface area” of pepper production in the province of Almeria (approximately 3,000 hectares). A trend that presumably is on the rise, since the pepper surface area continues to grow “even in areas that are traditionally used for tomato growing, such as the Levant.”
Subsequently on the 31st of January and the 1st of February Syngenta held some open days with the presence of over 600 farmers in El Ejido interested in discovering the new commercial developments: Miyabi, Nagai, Alonso and Kabuki.
Alonso is now a classic of Syngenta’s varieties, but they wanted to show it to emphasise that it continues to be a valid alternative for plantations at the end of July, due to its important uniformity and exceptional colour in both red and green.
For Miyabi an ecological production greenhouse was visited, where its intermediate resistance to Lt (powdery mildew) could be observed as being perfectly effective in these conditions and that the variety also stands out due to its production and uniformity.
Nagai, of which its elasticity was emphasised, is a variety with plantations that can be mid or mid-late (from the 10th to the 25th of July) and it can set fruits of very high quality and uniformity in both hot and cold weather conditions, in addition to being particularly suitable for cooperative farmers due to the homogeneity of its fruits, mainly in G calibres.
Finally, two greenhouses of Kabuki were visited, where the effectiveness of its intermediate resistance to Lt (powdery mildew) could be observed in the case of Miyabi and its great production capacity and the final response of the plant. Kabuki is without any doubt the main option backed by the Syngenta brand this year, due to its elasticity for mid and mid-early plantations and its exceptional final production and cycle length, combined with the peace of mind that its resistance to powdery mildew transmits.
