De Ruiter®, one of Bayer’s brands, is the benchmark in tomato rootstock and, as such, it is trying to get ahead of the trends with materials that provide solutions to the new problems that are appearing in the fields. The reduction of authorised active materials and the consequent reduction in chemical treatments and soil disinfectants in the crops mean a challenge for producers, who also must face up to increasingly exhausted land. The solution involves having rootstock with powerful root systems. Therefore, De Ruiter® is developing materials with genetics that will bring larger root systems and greater protection against nematodes in highly infected soils. And they may be used in conditions where the periods of high temperatures are also becoming more and more frequent.
“We are continuously working on the improvement of our materials, using the foundations of the ones we already have in our portfolio,” explains Juan Carlos Fernández Head of Rootstock at De Ruiter®.
Over the past year there has been a trend for working with more vegetative rootstocks, which bring greater hardiness, mainly in order to try to minimise the effects of virus problems. “In the trials that we have carried out with rootstocks, when the plant is stronger and healthier, the virus causes fewer symptoms on the plant,” Juan Carlos Fernández asserts. Accordingly, he recommends, depending on the tomato variety and the crop area, the rootstocks Maxifort, Vitalfort and DR0141TX. “We are seeing a better behaviour of the plant with them due to the hardiness that they bring to the variety,” the Head of Rootstocks at De Ruiter® indicates.
They also have some rootstocks that will soon come into a pre-commercial phase under the umbrella brand ‘Root2Success’. This line has more root hardiness, it is more vegetative and it brings greater protection against nematodes. As Juan Carlos Fernández explains “it is the 2.0 version of Control Prime, with the support of genetics with more resistance.”
Over the next two years, De Ruiter® will launch these new genetics with an extra resistance to nematodes.
