Does climate change also have an influence on variety development? TRADE AND MARKET I NG Harry van de Vijver (m) Germicopa: ‘Seed that needs a lot of TLC is out’ an influence, but then instinctively. Something that a year like this one has certainly taught us is that we definitely can’t work anymore with seed that needs a lot of TLC. What we’ve noticed from our own work this year is more than other years, is that a lot of numbers ‘Does climate change influence our breeding work? Hmm, a difficult question’, responds Harry van de Vijver, Product Manager at the French breeding company Germicopa in Quimper Cedex. He thinks for a moment and then continues: ‘Well, I actually do think that it has were dropped. We may have thrown out too much; we don’t know. If we hadn’t had a year like this one, numbers that showed growth-crack problems would most probably have remained. Every crop year is different and shows varietyspecific weaknesses; it's part of the job. What you need to always focus on, I think, are robust varieties that can cope with a problem now and then. Important characteristics are resistance to drought, Phytophthora and nematodes. The need to select for these qualities is increasing and you could call that a consequence of climate change. But that’s not new in our breeding work; we’ve used that basis for selecting our new varieties for many years. And with positive results. Look at our latest variety, the Kelly. It has very high Phytophthora resistance. We trialled the variety with organic growers in the German federal state of Bavaria last season and we noticed that all the plants remained grass-green right up to the end of the growing season.’ Joris van der Lee (l), Agroplant: ‘We’ve been breeding potatoes for areas with extreme weather conditions for many years’ ‘Does the changing climate here in Europe influence our breeding? I don’t think so’, is the confident answer of Joris van der Lee, Director of Agroplant in Medemblik. ‘We’ve been breeding potatoes for areas with extreme weather conditions for many years. That means that we’ve also been breeding varieties that are resistant to factors such as hot weather and drought. When weather conditions here in Europe go the same way, we can start using these varieties here without any problem. This is already happening. Look, we test our varieties in a great many growing areas, far away and nearby. An example is a new number we've got here, a sort of a Spunta. It’s a robust potato with high resistance to a harsh climate and has produced high yields for two years running. This is the type of potato we’re looking for, whether it’s for Africa or Europe. You could call that choice a result of climate change, but that’s not what we take as a starting point. As a breeder, you look at all the factors you’d like to see in a variety: Phytophthora resistance, drought stress, you name it. This has been our routine for years.’ Potato World 2017 • number 2 33 Pagina 32
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