We all love open - pollinated andheirloomvegetables , but sometimes the allure of those diverseness is season by the real - living disadvantages that sometimes cut back up — pun mean . But what if we could have all the advantages of open - pollinate vegetables along with other positive attributes , such as disease resistor , amend quality and increase productiveness ? Thanks to the sweat of dedicated plant researchers and stock breeder , new open - pollinated varieties are here to stick around , and they ’re quick to become the heirloom diverseness of tomorrow .
“ It ’s definitely a good time to be in vegetable breeding , ” say Jim Myers , prof of vegetable fostering and genetics at Oregon State University . “ by and large , there has been a descent in funding for public plant breeding , but some of the newer federal backing sources — USDA Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative , for example — are fund our work so that we can continue developing unexampled open - pollenate vegetable varieties . ”
Powdery-Mildew-Resistant Cucumbers
The popular Boothby ’s Blonde heirloom cucumber variety is well - have sex for its tone , arresting white food colour and impressive productivity . But Boothby ’s Blonde , like many other cucumber varieties , has an Achilles ’ heel : a propensity to develop powdery mildew . Over the past decade , research worker at Cornell University have worked to evolve new and improved varieties of open - pollinated cucumbers that are bred for resistance topowdery mildew .
According to Michael Mazourek , assistant professor of flora fosterage at Cornell , the semen of the idea to explore Modern cucumber varieties came out of a meeting between growers and researchers . “ The agriculturist were identifying heirloom that they liked but [ that ] were susceptible to diseases that make them challenging to grow , ” he says .
And that ’s where Boothby ’s Blonde came in : They decided to intersect it with the Marketmore slicing cucumber — a smorgasbord noted for its resistance to powdery mildew .
“ The operation starts with key the parents of the new crop with complementary feature , ” Mazourek enjoin .
From this projection of crossing Boothby ’s Blonde with Marketmore , the team at Cornell has accomplish several new open - pollinate cucumber varieties that show mildew resistance .
Michael Glos , a husbandman and breeder , chose the cucumber vine that ended up being Silver Slicer ( a Marketmore - type cuke with white skin ) . Jason Cavatorta , a alumnus student , take Salt and Pepper , which has the size and black spines of Boothby ’s . George Moriarty , another investigator , chose Platinum , which was an intermediate size of it with additional virus opposition . Mazourek and scholar Bill Holdsworth have also developed a downy mildew - resistant cucumber called DMR-264 , now available from Commonwealth Seeds .
Mazourek and the team at Cornell have also developed the downy mould - resistant Trifecta melon and the powdery mould - resistant Honeynut squash — further thrive the availability of plants with mildew resistance for farmers and nurseryman .
Blue & Purple Tomatoes
Meanwhile , in the tomato world , thing are acquire more exciting all the time . We ’re not just view stereotypical red tomatoes , either ; the newfangled varieties boast a wide range of colors and approach pattern . Brad Gates ofWild Boar Farmsin California ’s Napa Valley is focusing on bicolor and striped varieties , while investigator at Oregon State University released the stunning Indigofera tinctoria - color Indigo Rose tomato in 2012 .
“ Indigo Rose came out of experiments to increase phytonutrients in tomato , ” Myers sound out . “ [ In the class 2000 ] we were working with carotenoids ( the ruby-red , orange and sensationalistic pigments in tomato ) and noticed that in a germplasm repository , there were some tomato lines with a little spot of a purple blush on the fruit . ”
accord to Myers , this was the first fourth dimension anyone had characterized these tomato line of reasoning for this majestic pigment , and they were able to swan that these were anthocyanins — antioxidants associated with down and purple coloring , such as those found in blueberries .
“ The amount expressed on the yield was disappointingly low , and there were several of these lines in the collection , so we take off intercrossing them and found that one particular combination dramatically increased the amount of anthocyanins seeable on the yield , ” Myers says . “ It was out of these crosses that Indigo Rose was formulate . ”
But Indigo Rose is just the outset . “ We do have new mixture coming along that improve on Indigo Rose , ” Myers says . “ Two such are Indigo Cherry Drops and Indigo Pear Drops , which are earlier and have better savour . ”
agree to Myers , Oregon State University is also work on several new open - pollinatedvarieties , including “ an open - cross-pollinate broccoli change , a snap bean and a nose candy pea , and a mild habanero pepper ( not to mention more Indigo Lycopersicon esculentum varieties ) . ” My garden awaits !
This article in the beginning appear in the July / August 2015 issue ofHobby Farms .
