Some 25 new seed varieties are at pre-commercial phase with the aim of becoming available in 2023
BASF has said that new tomato varieties resistant to Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV) are being tested with the aim of becoming commercial in 2023.
From the early start of the ToBRFV outbreak, BASF said that it had actively sought and offered solutions to growers in battling the virus.
The group said that the Nunhems portfolio offered a range of resistant tomato seed varieties meeting the requirements of the different levels of the agri-food value chain.
“In 2020, we launched our first ToBRFV resistant tomato variety Teenon F1 in Mexico,” said Maria Muschitiello, product development coordinator of tomato fresh at BASF’s vegetable seeds business.
“A year later, we introduced four more varieties Blindon, Brovian, Strongton and Azovian all saladette types with good resistance to Rugose and great adaptability to different hot spot including Spain, Turkey and Morocco,” she continued.
”At present, we have a commercial assortment with Vitalion, cherry round with high taste adapted to high tech growing in the Netherlands as well as for growing in Canada,” Muschitiello added. ”BASF will continue to introduce new varieties for different types of segments that can be cultivated in many countries.”
ToBRFV was detected for the first time in Jordan in 2014 and, since then, it has spread to many of the main tomato production areas worldwide.
In some countries ToBRFV is now endemic, although there are still countries where it is not present, such as in Australia and Brazil.
“With the resistance, we contribute to the continuity of the crop and the production of commercial fruits. And this is precisely what we have successfully achieved,” said Geert Janssen, R&D crop lead solanaceae.
