Syngenta is extending its cucumber portfolio with a new variety in the most important segment, Dutch cucumbers. It is called Siriana and it is in the promotion process. Víctor García, Product Manager for Cucurbitaceae, explains that they have developed it for productions in Almeria and Costa de Granada, placing it in crops from the 10th of September to the 10th of October, according to the region. “It works well even in earlier plantations, at the beginning of September.” And one of the main advantages of Siriana is its good adaptation to high temperatures.
When developing Siriana, Syngenta took into account factors such as behaviour with heat, the genetics of a dark plant and great vegetable health throughout the cycle. “It is essential to have a very high production in cucumber because it is a commodity. Its added value is due to the average of kilos per hectare and, to achieve this, highly generative varieties are needed, with good regrowth capacity,” García explains. Siriana’s plant is balanced, but with a generative trend to guarantee setting throughout the cycle.
The fruit are dark green in colour, grooved, without any bottleneck or yellowing. They maintain the commercial length on the shank and in regrowth and they offer a good post-harvest. “Alongside good production, the most significant element lies in having an important package of resistances. And with Siriana we have it: resistance to powdery mildew (which comes as standard), yellowing and veins, CGMMV and the great new development is our first cucumber variety with intermediate resistance to New Delhi.
Syngenta initiated its cucumber portfolio with Vikingos, a line with new genetics to cover all the dates: Esben, Randall, Erico (Granada and Almeria) and Viggo (more for Almeria in wintertime), launched last year.
“The most popular are September and October transplants. Erico and Siriana are very common for crops on the Costa de Granada. Viggo works very well and it is the variety with the fastest growth in sales, on dates from the 25th of September to the 25th of October. It has good acceptance due to its focus on the winter cycle and its complete pack of resistances.”
In the near future, they will introduce new varieties with more resistances in all the segments. Parallel to this, they have a programme in a beta-alpha phase in Turkey to adapt the new genetics to snack or mini cucumbers. “We are evaluating materials, but it is a strategic market due to its growth.”
