74 / SEEDWORLD.COM JUNE 2019 Exploring ideas and views on all aspects of the seed industry. GENETIC VARIANT LINKED TO CUCUMBER FRUIT LENGTH The cucumber is among the top five vegetable crops grown in the world. Cucumbers are most commonly eaten fresh or preserved as pickles. An important attribute of the cucumber is fruit length. Cucumbers range in size from 5 to 60 cm, depending on the cultivar. In an effort to identify the genetic basis of fruit length variation in cucumber, a team of researchers led by Xiaolan Zhang at China Agricultural University analyzed 150 cucumber lines with different fruit lengths. They identified two variants of a gene named CsFUL1 that differed by a single base pair in the DNA code. The CsFUL1A variant appeared in long-fruited East Asian cucumbers, whereas the CsFUL1C variant was randomly distributed in wild and semi- wild cucumber populations. This research has singled out a key modulator of fruit length and sets the stage for developing strategies to manipulate fruit length in cucumber breeding. CORNELL AGRITECH RELEASES GALAXY SUITE GRAPE TOMATO VARIETIES New York farmers have a new way to satisfy consumers’ hunger for something different. Phillip Griffiths, associate professor of plant breeding and genetics at Cornell AgriTech, has released a collection of organic grape tomato varieties that are pretty, profitable and pack a culinary punch. The new Galaxy Suite of five grape tomato varieties offers outstanding flavor in novel shapes and colors: the yellow fingerling Starlight; the orange grape-shaped Sungrazer; the small, red, grape-shaped Comet; the marbled and striped Supernova; and the dark purple, pear-shaped Midnight Pear. They are available now from High Mowing Organic Seeds. “These varieties are ideal for organic and conventional growers, or hobby gardeners, and will make a great contribution to the diversity and quality available for small-fruited tomato medleys,” Griffiths says. “They provide high flavor options with good shelf life and aesthetics in high-yielding plants for growers.” His Galaxy Suite combines consumer-quality traits with better yields, uniformity and firmness to stand up to transportation. QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY FOCUS ON FUTURE FOOD SYSTEMS Queensland University of Technology researchers will play a key part in developing smart logistics to link growers with their markets and high-tech methods of growing customised food, with the announcement of the Future Food Systems Cooperative Research Centre. The Future Food Systems CRC will involve more than 50 commercial and research partners, with the Federal Government injecting $35 million in funding over 10 years along with almost $150 million in support from the research centre’s educational and commercial participants. QUT’s involvement in the CRC is spread across the centre’s three research and development programs of planning and logistics in linking growers to their markets, developing smart automated indoor cropping and creating nutrient-dense foods and hybrid food and medical goods tailored to growing domestic and export markets. Doug Baker will lead the research program into logistics and urban design that will identify planning policy, design and infrastructure for integrating high-tech growing and processing facilities, particularly around transport hubs and in regional centres. Baker says an example of a future food system was greenhouses with automated vertical farming used to grow crops on or near airports or port areas, so that the crops could be shipped straight to their markers. The CRC will look at food hubs around Australia including the new Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport, which will have a surrounding cluster of intensive agribusinesses creating high-value products for target markets in Asia.