If all goes according to plan, during this financial year of 2023/24 Top Seeds will launch its broccoli range with BRC-104, its first commercial variety.
“We are waiting to confirm the results of the evaluations of the first transplants that were carried out from the 30th of August up to the beginning of September,” explains Antonio Ginés Beltrán, Product Developer and Sales from Top Seeds for the Region of Murcia.
The company gave out a large amount of seeds amongst the main producing companies and, in the previous phase, they confirmed the variety’s good response.
BRC-104 is focused on transplants at the end of August at altitudes of 700-1,000 m, and for Campo de Cartagena and Valle de Guadalentín. It has a 75-85 day cycle, depending on the transplant date and the region. It has a short-medium cycle and it can be fitted in between other materials.
Amongst the variety’s characteristics, which is aimed mainly at fresh sales, the compactness of the head, its intermediate green colour, its mushroom shape and its fine-intermediate grains stand out.
Easy to handle, clean and prepare, it has important grouping for harvesting, and can be collect in 2 or 3 passes. It has excellent plant health due to the position of its leaves, which are very vertical, encouraging ventilation to the head and preventing problems of rotting, and it has a great post-harvest shelf-life.
At the same time, the company is developing the BRC-420 variety, with a minimum cycle of 90 days for transplanting in October up until the 8th of November, with harvesting in January and February, depending on the transplant date.
This year they are developing over 25 trials in trays and they have grown around 10,000 plants, with a view to moving it onto a pre-commercial phase in 2024/25. Last year they already obtained some highly satisfactory results in previous trials.
BRC-420 has very good endurance on the plant. It can be used for both fresh and industrial markets, as it can reach an ideal weight and volume for processing. “It is present in northern Spain with farmers associated with the frozen food industry and in the INTIA.”
Top Seeds is moving forward in its broccoli programme, concentrating on the Region of Murcia, where it selects and evaluates varieties on site to obtain the best adaptation to the specific conditions of the crops. “We already have 80 materials in B1 (the stage following breeding.)”
