Seed Co unveils new cabbage, tomato varieties

Sifelani Tsiko Agric, Environment & Innovations Editor

Seed Co Limited has introduced new cabbage and tomato varieties as part of the company’s vision to expand vegetable cultivars for planting that are cheaper and high yielding with benefits across the whole produce chain.

 

Recently, the seed maker held its annual Winter Field Day to showcase its new cabbage and tomato cultivars.

 

New cultivars that were released by the Seed Co plant breeders included the cabbage range – Majesty and Dephine with an exceptionally high yield of up to 7kg/head under optimum growing conditions.

 

“Seed Co Vegetables has long provided cutting-edge solutions for customers in diverse open-field and protected environments. By bringing together world-class experts and resources from across its stakeholders, the new vegetables by Seed Co enables our distributors to provide value to our customers and partners in new and exciting ways,” a top Seed Co plant breeder said at the field day.

 

“That value is reflected across four core pillars – partnership, innovation, performance and sustainability.”

 

Seed Co Vegetables has widened the range of its cabbage and tomato varieties that farmers can select from, with each variety conferring unique features guided by market preferences.

 

The cabbage cultivars – Majesty and Dephine are stable across environments and seasons and offer the best resistance against Blackrot (Xanthomonas campetris) which is very devastating in this crop species.

 

In addition, the new cabbage varieties have better uniformity and a high cut off percentage of more than 90 percent and more than 22 days field holding capacity.

 

It’s Dephine range matured in 65 days and was hardwired with traits of economic importance such as good uniformity, good head size (5kg) and a dark blue green color which is highly sought by the fresh market.

 

In addition to these Seed Co has been selling Delight and Marcanta varieties suitable for growing in the rainy season.

 

Seed Co Vegetables has also expanded its tomato seed basket to include the new Amul variety which was neither round nor elongated but with characteristics that makes it fit into all kinds of market needs.

 

This variety matures in 75-80 days with the best resistance to nematodes and other foliar diseases and provides yields of up to 140t/ha in its entire cycle.

 

In 2015, Seed Co Limited entered the vegetable seed business to spread risk and boost future earnings growth as maize seed sales were susceptible to the vagaries of weather.

 

The company at the time, bought 100 percent of Prime Seeds, a local vegetable seed producer.

 

The seed maker is investing in plant breeding to develop cost-effective and high yielding varieties that boost agriculture output and national food security.

You Might Also Like

Comments

Take our Survey

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey