Nova Siri Genetics: "Marimbella has been our most popular cultivar this year"

The distribution of strawberry seedlings belonging to Nova Siri Genetics cultivars in the different Mediterranean areas ended a few days ago. Licensee plant nurseries have spread the propagated seedlings in high altitude nurseries located across Spain and Poland to farmers in Italy, Spain, Greece and Morocco.

At the end of these cultivation operations, we interviewed Nicola Tufaro, breeder of the company. "Our licensees started the uprooting of the plants at the end of September, when they had reached the right physiological ripeness, which is the result of more than 300 hours of cold received by the nursery at a temperature below 7°C. This is an indispensable condition for our short-day varieties, in order to provide producers with a plant that has a firm vegetative state, capable of overcoming the stress of transplanting and guaranteeing superior production in terms of quality and quantity as early as the winter months."

Unfavorable weather patterns in the spring months resulted in lower yields per hectare for Polish nurseries; production performance for Spanish nurseries, on the other hand, was in line with expectations. "The plants," the breeder resumes, "were weeded, sorted, packed at the production sites and finally sent in refrigerated trucks at a temperature of 2°C. The strawberry plants were delivered to the breeders, who proceeded to establish strawberry groves for the 2022/23 campaign."

Distribution in Italy was carried out by the company Primi frutti, while in Spain (in the region of Huelva), Morocco and Greece, the plants were supplied by nurseries Viveros California, Viveros Carbonero, Viveros Rio Eresma and Viveros Gardisancho.

We also have also received some feedback from Carmela Suriano, Nova Siri Genetics' EMEA director. "Despite the difficult environment in which we are forced to operate, the market demand for our varieties has proven gratifying. We are receiving good feedback from our nursery partners and producers because NSG-branded genetic improvement brings benefits to all the parties in the supply chain. The hardiness of the varieties allows for innovative and sustainable cultivation techniques for both plant propagation and fruit production. Precocity and quality of production also provide Mediterranean strawberry growers with the opportunity to supply their customers in Europe and Arab countries during the winter months, when there is greater demand and higher prices."

We asked Suriano which cultivars are the most widely propagated and distributed this year. "The variety NSG 203 - Marimbella® has been the one most used by nurserymen in both Spain and Poland, also due to its placement in the top rankings of cultivars of the future drawn up by IFAPA, based on field tests carried out in the region of Huelva, Spain. Marimbella, in fact, is a cultivar we patented in 2019 that has rapidly spread among strawberry growers in Mediterranean areas. Following that, in order of demand, we have Melissa, Rossetta® and NSG 207 - Gioelita®."

As of this year, to the experimental fields at the company's research and testing center in Policoro (Matera), NSG has added new ones in different production areas at NSG Network partners, with the aim of evaluating new selections from its genetic improvement program.

Source: FreshPlaza