What breeding innovations are up for tomatoes in the next decade?

What kind of tomatoes do tomato growers want? What kind of tomato does the trade want? And what kind of tomato does the consumer want? Tough questions, right? Try to answer these questions in eight to ten years. What does everyone want in 2027? It is the biggest challenge for breeders.

Growers, trade and consumer

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses". This is one of the most famous statements ever made by Henry Ford - a widespread misunderstanding. But to know what people want is very difficult, Ben Silvertand knows this extremely well. He is a tomato breeder at Bayer CropScience Vegetable Seeds and speaks regularly with several growers about the ideal tomato. And look at the result: 100 growers, 100 wishes. Where one grower goes for growing force and setting to achieve as many kilos as possible, the other chooses for aroma and taste, to distinguish himself in the market and a third goes for resistance because he believes that access to pest control resources will be further reduced.

For Silvertand it is even a bit trickier: he must not only meet all these different demands, but also guess how things will look like in 10 years from now. "The breeds we are currently working on can only be introduced in 8-10 years. Maybe in five years, but then there’s the risk of mistakes - and it's really important to have constant, qualitative breeds. Precisely in the pre-breeding phase, before we get started with the breeding, the input from growers is very important." And even then it is sometimes difficult to make the right choice. "In 2008, for example, we expected to build the moisture-tight property of the Intense-tomato into all other tomato breeds, but the market appeared not ready for this. Only now things are changing.”

New tomatoes on the vine

Bayer CropScience's breeders have in any case at the right time chosen for tomatoes on the vine. The various commercial, trial 1 and trial 2 breeds can this year be seen in two TOV centers (tomato on the vine centers). One is located at Roel and Bart de Bakker in Kwintsheul, the other at Tom Vlaemynck in Deinze, Belgium. The location in 's-Gravenzande, where breeds used to be exhibited, is nowadays equipped with lighting and from now on specifically used for breeding. "For the lighted cultivation we want specifically breeding and do not want to use standard breeds," says Harm Ammerlaan of Bayer. "In the coming season, 40% of tomato cultivation will be lighted here, in Belgium this is about 20%. That will only continue to grow globally, so this is also where we will focus our attention on. Moreover, we can use the TOV centers to test the breeds in real conditions."

NUN 09196 and NUN 09194

This year there are two trial breeds in the greenhouses in which the breeders see a lot of potential. The first one is the NUN 09194, which according to Harm offers an alternative in the elite-segment. "By the gloss, by the color. It is a jointless breed, but because of the TOV structure it looks like a jointed tomato." In terms of production, the NUN 09194 cannot compete with the main breed, it is a quality variety. In terms of production figures, they see more potential in NUN 09196. "This is a bit finer than the main breed, but gives two more bunches." The NUN 09194 is currently being tested in France, the NUN 09196 has been placed on several locations in the Netherlands.

NUN 09194 and NUN 09196

For more information:
Bayer
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