Hargreaves Plants has delivered the first of its 2010 asparagus crop and is set to add new hybrid varieties this year.
Guelph Millennium and Mondeo are among the new versions of the vegetables set to debut this season following varietal trials.
Jamie Petchell, a director of the company, heads up the asparagus function with Marie-Laure Bayard, who is responsible for the technical aspects.
Petchell said: “Guelph Millennium is our leading hybrid to date. It produces high volumes of spears of superb quality late in the season. The pattern of spear emergence is very even and as a result, harvesting costs to the grower are reduced dramatically.”
Bayard said: “We are working with a small number of breeders who are developing varieties that specifically meet the demands of the UK grower base… this means better head quality than the current standard cultivars.”
Hargreaves planted its second asparagus variety trials in spring 2009. Bayard added: “We analysed around 240 individual hybrids in our first trials, and needless to say there were many that were unsuitable for our conditions. Now on our second site, we are able to focus on the leading selections and breeders. In addition, we have increased the number of replications per hybrid, thus improving our statistical accuracy. Further, we are carrying out agronomic trials, to test optimum planting densities, depths and plant types for Guelph Millennium.”
This UK season started later than originally anticipated and it is during this time of year that varietal spread is at its most important, with early cultivars proving lucrative. Mondeo, a hybrid bred in northern Germany, was five days earlier to start cutting this year.
No comments yet