Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 5210 I EUROPEAN SEED I EUROPEAN-SEED.COM ES: What are the main breeding targets? Den Hertog states that with breeding, “there is still a lot to win in terms of efficiency. Imagine that we can increase the shelf life from fresh cut melons seven to 10 days or that fruits can be transported and stored at a temperature of 8 degrees instead of 4 degrees.” Den Hertog says this would mean enormous advantages in the logistic chain; it could improve financial results for the market and decrease food waste at the same time. “The conven- ience market is still important for melon. During the financial crisis there was some stagnation, but now we see a steady growth again. A specific point of attention for the fresh cut segment is the shape and size of the seed cavity. Processors prefer a round and small seed cavity, so they lose as little flesh as possible when cutting the fruits automatically in their machines.” Foncelle adds that for Syngenta, the main breeding targets are biotic stress resistance, fruit quality and taste, as well as fruit shelf life. For Enza Zaden, the main target can be described as reliability. “We aim to breed reliable varieties for the whole chain,” Kuijpers says. “For a grower that means adapted varieties with a broad resistance pattern and good production, for the distribu- tion and retailers chain it is shelf life and for the taste.” ES: How do you as plant breeder innovate? The genetic diversity of melons is enormous, according to Den Hertog. “This diversity comes from the many varieties that have been developed over the years by human selection, and we complement this with wild plant material that nature still has to offer and that we collect during collection trips together with gene banks. All of the different types can be crossed, so we can make many combinations in terms of fruit flesh, skin and size. Of course we listen to the market, but as breeders you sometimes have to try something new and unexpected. We have a lot of creativity in our team. Some of our breeders work on so-called semi-finished products and send them to colleagues in different parts of the world, so they can bring innovation to the local market. In this way we try to develop the category and to increase the worldwide consumption of melons.” For de Langen, innovations are related with shortening the time of line selection and the speed to market/efficiency of breed- ing. “But also with the efficiency of selection and understand- ing of the important traits. For that we use marker assisted selection or even marker assisted breeding, which will improve the selection and prediction of hybrid performance and stable expressions in different environments. At the same time, we like to stack disease resistance packages and novel traits which will increase yield and yield/quality stability.” De Langen continues: “To give you some examples of innovative HM.CLAUSE varieties, we were aware that the Spanish market was lacking of a Galia early season variety, combining better shelf life with a good taste, so we devel- oped the variety BRISA. Also in Spain, there was a demand for a Piel de Sapo type variety adapted to early sowings in the greenhouse to start the season, which led to the development of variety VALVERDE. And the French Charentais market was suffering from uneven fruit quality, and to solve that we cre- ated the ANASTA variety.” Den Hertog explains that at the same time we know more and more about the DNA structure of the plants, the complete genome of melon is known and we now have some markers. “This enables us to raise the standards of the main varieties in the market. To make a very strong variety even better, we do not need to start all over again, but can sometimes add a desir- able trait very accurately. It is still done by classical breeding (crossing and back crossing), but the genetic markers make it possible to work in a very targeted manner.” At a moment where plant breeding has arrived in the era of molecular breeding, Kuijpers shares that Enza Zaden “invests heavily in technology development and implementa- tion in our breeding programs. Ever more molecular breeding tools become available for breeders. This will help us breed- ing for complex traits such as yield, plant architecture and adaptability.” Foncelle provides an example. “One good example of inno- vation and connected to the genetic diversity is our melon ‘Gwanipa’, already in the market for some years and present in the stores of some innovative retailers.” Syngenta’s Bruno Foncelle says breeding a hybrid variety is providing them with more opportunities to combine traits in a single variety.