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 52EUROPEAN-SEED.COM I EUROPEAN SEED I 11 ES: What is your biggest challenge? Melon is technically challenging to grow, says De Langen, “… because it is very sensitive to environmental and growing conditions. That means that we have to evaluate lines and hybrids in numerous trials and conditions. Moreover, fruits are harvested in a narrow window of time (five-10 days) and they have to be picked at the mature stage to have marketable quality. Trial visit planning in a large trial network has to be done very carefully to have meaningful evaluations!” Kuijpers adds that his biggest challenge is breeding for flexible or adaptable varieties. “Some varieties do well no matter where you grow them or what crop management they receive. These are very adaptable varieties and are of great value for a grower, especially for an open field crop like melon where a grower cannot control the climate. What makes a variety adaptable is very difficult to define in straightforward breeding objectives and thus difficult to achieve,” he says. Foncelle clarifies that for him, the so-called ‘speed to market’ is the biggest challenge, which means the time to bring the product to the market as soon as possible in order to answer as best as possible the market needs of farmers, traders and consumers. ES: Roughly speaking, which kind of investments in time and money does it take to develop a new melon variety? Kuijpers explains that starting from scratch, it will take about five years to develop a melon variety. “But you need to add to that at least two to three years to introduce a variety in the market.” Foncelle concurs, explaining to develop a new variety is a long-term process that takes about seven years. ES: With all these different melon types, how do you as a breeder make sure that your future products are aligned with what the growers and the consumers want? Chartier explains that product profiles are realigned at least every five years. “They list all the requirements for a commercial product of each melon type by market slot and even sub slot.” Breeders have to anticipate the market while developing a new melon variety, which takes six to eight years. Den Hertog states in order to develop market oriented varieties, “we are not only in close contact with growers, but we also work closely together with other players in the chain. For instance, we are now doing projects with a number of processing companies in which we try to predict shelf life. By testing our melons in exactly the same way as processors do, we are able to develop the varieties that they really need. In general you could say that our work is getting more and more complex. We have more and more knowledge at our disposal, and at the same time the demands from the market are getting higher and higher. Every step in the chain has its own demands and the only way to play into this is by collaborating intensively with our international partners.” Kuijpers also feels the challenge. “At Enza Zaden we try to work very close to the market to capture opportunities in an early stage. At the same time we have defined a set of essential traits that have to be widely present in our programs so we have a solid base to develop new products.” And Pleguezuelo adds: “We regularly meet customers and growers and we get feedback from our marketing colleagues to define the characteristics of the future products.” ES: Creating diversity for your growers and customers is of course very important. Where do you go to find the necessary germplasm that will help you in your breeding work and what are the main sources of your diversity: mainly commercial varieties, or also landraces and other species? Chartier explains they have a dedicated pre-breeder who deals with the discovery, description, maintenance and making available the nec- essary genetic diversity for the melon breeders. “Genetic resources for interesting traits can be very diverse: wild ancestors (C. melo), our legacy genetic resources (Clause and Harris-Moran), accessions from other unrelated cultitypes or from the same cultigroup. It can also be heirloom varieties (landraces), historical varieties (OP or F1 hybrids), recent varieties, or specially created populations to create new variation.” Melon is a ‘noble’ product for European consumers who are attached to specific attributes according to their countries, areas, and eating patterns, says de Langen. “The consumers pay specific attention to shape, size, skin and flesh color, and all are deeply rooted in their background. But diversity is not only visual (external appear- ance), it is also and mostly in the aromas and flavours. Diversity is also in different growing environments (greenhouse, open field), growers basis (local, multi-site leaders), distribution channels (retailers, direct sellers), and markets (domestic vs. export). Every type of melon has to be improved to match all this diversity. Genetics has always played a major role in improving quality and develop the melon business whether it is for consumers’ or growers’ benefits,” he adds. Pleguezuelo: “Within our company, we put a lot of attention to manage germplasm and genetic diversity. We use our elite germplasm, commercial varieties, landraces, and wild accessions depending on the breeding objectives.” Kuijpers underlines the fact the main source of diversity is a mix of commercially available varieties and smart use of their genebank. “New resistances are often found in wild melon OP´s, quality in local landraces and commercial varieties.”