Bayer plays a prominent role in traditional beefsteak and salad tomatoes with materials such as Jack, Optima, Caramba and Anairis, to which more recent launches have been added, such as SV TH 1214, Eterei, SV TH 2900, and the latest incorporation, Mazinger.
It is a material aimed at short autumn cycles under glass. Mazinger stands out due to its high setting capacity in the heat, which allows farmers to adapt to early transplants from mid-July to the beginning of August. Javier Villegas, Manager for Tomato Development for Spain and Portugal, lists the main characteristics of this tomato: an open, easy to handle plant, a complete pack of resistances (both to the main aerial and soil fungal diseases and to viruses). The fruit maintains a high GG-GGG calibre throughout the entire cycle and thanks to the quality and firmness, they offer great versatility as they can be harvested green or red, a highly appreciated aspect on the chain for marketing and distribution.
In tomatoes, Bayer continues to maintain its focus on the export market with Bateyo (loose) and Ventero (loose and vine).
It continues promoting Laujar (short autumn and spring cycles), highly appreciated due to its quality, resistances and the good response it offers in ecological crops.
For the next campaign, Bayer will have a new development in Marmande that will be ready for marketing in the near future. This material stands out due to its great flexibility and good behaviour under different conditions and handling by the producer; the package of resistances, particularly soil diseases, which allows it to be used in many circumstances without any need for grafting; and its behaviour with high temperatures, which encourages setting and allows the calendar to be extended. With regard to the fruit, it offers excellent quality (traditional flavour, crunchy structure, attractive appearance and good shelf life) and it is constant throughout the cycle, with very high tolerance to blossom end rot, allowing productivity to be maintained in very stressful conditions and/or handling. “There is a great deal of interest from the fields and from marketing, both in auctions and in the Mercas or wholesale markets.”
True to its commitment to innovation, at Bayer they have “ball-type tomato varieties ready to revolutionise the market in the Murcia region,” and they continue working to improve the rootstock with new lines that have greater resistance to nematodes.
