Recently, 340 sweet pepper varieties were planted in the three solar greenhouses of the Shouguang Vegetable R&D Center, at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. This was done by the Solanaceae vegetable innovation team of the Vegetable and Flower Research institute. The sweet peppers were sown in October 2019 and planted in November, and are now in the fruit-setting period.
Wang Lihao, the chief of the team and a researcher at the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, said that this year's varieties are targeted at high-end facility vegetable (sweet pepper) breeding. The varieties tested and displayed are divided into 5 main types, suitable for greenhouse cultivation of sweet peppers, bell peppers, red pepper for pickle uses, Yangjiao pepper, and Lugosi pepper. At the moment, there are some combinations of these varieties that exceed the control group and are highly praised by middlemen and growers.
A few days ago, some seedling companies and large growers from Qingzhou, Jinan, and Shouguang came to the greenhouse to observe the varieties voluntarily. They gave a high evaluation of the breeding level of these varieties and selected some new varieties for further cooperation and negotiation.
In recent years, the Solanaceae vegetable team has done a lot of work in breeding sweet peppers for disease resistance, improving commercialization, and cultivating varieties of protected growth types. In China, the L3 gene was applied to combat tobacco mosaic virus disease and pepper mild mottle virus disease, and a batch of disease-resistant varieties was first cultivated in China, such as Zhongjiao 105, Zhongjiao 106, Zhongjiao 107, and Zhongjiao 1615 No., etc.
The team also cultivated the sweet pepper variety Zhongjiao 115, which is resistant to tomato spot wilt virus disease in China. In terms of quality breeding, the commercialization and consumption quality of sweet pepper fruits are improved. "In terms of the growth potential of protected land, by introducing, digesting, and absorbing European-type germplasm resources, we have cultivated the sweet pepper inbred lines with strong growth potential and continuous fruit setting which is suitable for China's cultivation conditions and consumption habits."
On this basis, combining identification technology and molecular marker-assisted selection technology, they have cultivated a number of high-quality inbred lines and varieties. The early breeding varieties of the Zhongjiao series have been widely promoted in production for more than 300 thousand hectares. This new breed will create a good beginning and foundation for the breeding of high-end facility vegetables (sweet pepper) in China and will improve the international competitiveness of China's high-end facility vegetables.
Source: news.sciencenet.cn