32 I EUROPEAN SEED I EUROPEAN-SEED.COM WHY IT MATTERS Peppers come in a large variety of shapes, colours and tastes, differing per region. A pepper breeder needs to make sure that they are able to cater for all these diverging consumer wishes and at the same time come up with something new from time to time. And all this, in times where access to germplasm is getting ever more difficult. NEW COLOURS, NEW SHAPES, NEW TASTES A CLOSER LOOK AT SWEET PEPPER BREEDING AND ITS CHALLENGES BY: TREENA HEIN I n each issue, European Seed takes a closer look at one of the many crops that European plant breeders are working on. In this issue, we’re putting the sweet pepper in the spotlight and we have contacted leading breeders to learn about the breeding challenges and what kinds of innovations they are working on. The five industry experts are: Zoran Susic, Sweet Pepper breeder, Monsanto; Aernoudt Aardse, Crop Research Director, Enza Zaden; Matthieu Nicolas, Global Breeding Lead for Peppers, Syngenta; Natalia Nagy, Global R&D Team Lead Peppers, Bayer; and Jair Haanstra, Breeding Manager, Rijk Zwaan. ORIGINS AND MARKET SHARE The bell pepper (also called the sweet pepper or cap- sicum) is a cultivar of the species Capsicum annuum, which originated in Mexico, Central America and northern South America. Researchers at University of California (Davis) report that dried pepper fruits and seeds have been recovered from 9000 year-old burial sites in Mexico. Domestication might have taken place as early as 12,000 years ago, making peppers was one of the first crops in the Americas to be domesticated. Columbus brought dried pep- pers to Europe in 1493 and their use spread across the region and into Africa, Asia and North America. Today, China is the world's largest pepper producer, followed by Mexico and Indonesia. The website ‘World’s Top Exports’ reports that global exports of sweet peppers and chili peppers totaled $5 billion USD during 2016, an average 14.7% increase over 2012. The site states that “Europe exported the highest dollar worth of peppers during 2016, with shipments valued at $2.5 billion (50.2% of total worldwide sales. In second place was North America at 35.2% while 10.6% of worldwide peppers ship- ments originated from Asian exporters.” Smaller percentages came from Africa, Latin America (excluding Mexico) and Oceania. EUROPEAN SEED (ES): Sweet pepper is an increas- ing popular vegetable crop, available in several dif- ferent types and colours. Please tell us about your breeding focus. ZORAN SUSIC (ZS): Peppers can be consumed fresh or processed, and hold an important posi- tion in menus of various regional kitchens in the world where a great diversity in type, size, colour and shape are preferred. We aim to deliver pepper hybrids with superior performance for the most broadly-grown types, which are blocky, followed by half-long (Lamuyo, typical for the markets in Spain and Italy) and various types of pointed peppers. Market size, growing area, type of growing system (protected heated glasshouse in central and north- ern Europe or unheated protected plastic house or open field in southern Europe) as well as planting dates are additional factors of importance that we take into consideration. AERNOUDT AARDSE (AA): Our breeding efforts are focussed to improve yield, quality and reliabil- ity. When zooming in, there are differences among pepper types and within types in traits, objectives and priorities, depending on market needs and opportunities. For instance, to get a high-perform- ing blocky pepper variety in the Netherlands or Spain requires a different product model because