Carlitos, the first tomato variety from Top Seeds with resistance to Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV), is continuing to find its place in Murcia, grafted onto Carbonite, and in Almeria, for short cycles in spring and autumn.
But Carlitos is just the beginning. The seed company is working on the development of new materials in the segments and typologies that incorporate the aforementioned resistance. “It is quite an extensive line. We have plum tomatoes for the Spanish market and for export; round vine cherry tomatoes of the San Marzano type, vine tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes… both for greenhouse crops in Almeria and for farms using netting in the Region of Murcia,” Eva Maria Jerez, a sales technician from Top Seeds in the Levant region, explains.
The first results of this work may be seen next year, with the commercial launch of a new prototype of Arondir with resistance to ToBRFV. It is a firm, large calibre plum tomato (one point above Arondir). Eva María Jerez advances that it is a material that is “very strong vegetatively, for crops under netting in Murcia and other earlier areas such as Alhama de Almería, as well as other high regions in the province.”
Also in tomatoes, but in the rootstock sphere, Top Seeds is developing its rootstock programme. In the first instance, it has consolidated its well-known Carbonite with the sale of 4 million seeds in the fields. Advantages such as its important robustness, balance and the bonus of yield, also at the end of the cycle, offer very good results for the producers who are placing their trust in the variety.
As a new development, this year they launched Interceptor, a rootstock with resistance to ToBRFV and with average robustness. Also in this case, the material is being very well-accepted due to its good behaviour in the fields and the great quality that it offers, the sales technician assures.
“Our programme is open. We are developing rootstocks with differing degrees of robustness, with resistance to ToBRFV in order to continue moving forward and, therefore, be able to launch new developments in the near future,” she advances. And according to Jerez, the fact is that “ToBRFV is just another problem and we want to offer solutions. Although in some regions the virus is more widespread than others, the trend is for requesting materials with resistance, as occurred with TYLCV.”
Arkane and Sadoc, the spotlight in peppers
In the pepper category, the main spotlight is placed on Arkane, its red California pepper with resistance to powdery mildew, which is increasing in this 2024/2025 campaign, as well as in the yellow California pepper Sadoc. Galiano and Arnon, its oldest varieties, continue functioning well on a commercial scale and they are maintaining their level of sales.
Melchor Guzmán, a sales technician at Top Seeds Ibérica, advances that over this past year they have developed prototypes very similar to Galiano and Arnon that incorporate resistance to powdery mildew and nematodes. “They are already in the last phase of development and next year they will have moved on to a pre-commercial phase. We also have later pepper varieties at an advanced stage.”
RELATED NEWS: Top Seeds International launches Fanello, its first mini-plum tomato
Nilo, its first broccoli
In open air crops, their first commercial variety of broccoli, Nilo, is paving the way in Murcia. The variety, for 75 to 90 day cycles, is drawing the interest of the producers. After this commercial launch, they are working on other “very interesting” materials for “more complicated” altitudes (both hotter and colder.)
