Sign up for our daily Newsletter and stay up to date with all the latest news
You are receiving this pop-up because this is the first time you are visiting our site
You are using software which is blocking our advertisements (adblocker)
we are relying on revenues from our banners
So please disable your adblocker and reload the page to continue using this site.Thanks
Asparagus is grown on about 22,000 hectares in Germany
while the vegetable grows on just over 3,000 hectares in the Netherlands
He is responsible at Enza Zaden for the Daleza F1 variety
"Many plant propagators are concentrated in the southeast of the Netherlands
This is significant in that the asparagus seeds are not sold directly to growers
but to those propagators who create an 'asparagus crown' that is sown and harvested in the course of a year
 John Schuurman at Enza Zaden's 19th Gemüsebau-Feldtag (Vegetable Growing Field Day) in Dannstadt-Schauernheim
"Daleza is the first asparagus variety from Enza Zaden and was launched in 2020
This is important because with strong asparagus spears it is possible to find a balance between harvesting costs and selling price on the market: Harvesters are able to harvest a kilo of asparagus faster
consumers are also interested in asparagus with a thickness of 20 to 22 mm." However
the new variety stands out for its earliness
as well as its uniform spear size and consistent quality
which makes it well suited for farm-gate sales."
It's not until the following year that you get to full harvest
The asparagus crown carries a weight of 80 to 120 grams
This intermediate step is important because an asparagus plant must persist for eight to ten years and so must each plant
you often have problems with misalignment." Schuurman also stresses that asparagus is a crop that requires a lot of manual labor and correspondingly higher labor costs
every plant has to be robust and produce good spears
 The new asparagus variety was also already in the spotlight at this year's Interaspa in Sandhatten
On the development of asparagus varieties at Enza ZadenBreeding a new asparagus variety can take up to eight years
Enza Zaden tries to make sure to develop varieties that minimize the use of additives as much as possible
"We are working on varieties through which the use of fertilizers and pesticides can be limited in the future
Trials have been made in the green asparagus sector
but they are still primarily focused on Daleza
"We have a large farm where we have a lot of options with Molelukar or tissue culture
It's definitely important to collect data for cultivation
But it's at least as important to also look at the plants directly
you could easily be wrong about the variety."
I don't know any vegetable that carries so much history and feelings
but also in the Netherlands as well as in France
is that asparagus is often the main product in a meal
Asparagus is actually an affordable product for many people
The peeled product in particular is gaining more recognition."
FreshPublishers © 2005-2025 FreshPlaza.com
Andrea Schieder has been a breeder at Enza Zaden for 26 years and
who again is primarily responsible for the organic sector
demonstrated Enza Zaden's breeding process
breeding is done at 26 different locations
Breeding at our company is done through hand crossing as well as seed multiplication
most important varieties are also bred in the individual countries," says Dr
26 to 30 crops for glasshouse and field cultivationIn Germany
although trial cultivation for colleagues from other countries
is also carried out on the Dannstadt-Schauernheim site
both for glasshouse and open field cultivation
Classical breeding work is realized in the individual branches
Schieder explains one of Enza Zaden's breeding processes
"Our breeding processes are still based on the crossing experiments of the 19th century monk Gregor Mendel
other processes have been added thanks to the biotech sector."
When Enza Zaden moved to its new site in Dannstadt-Schauernheim in 2004
"Now there are already more than 30 people working in the breeding department
CEO Jaap Mazereeuw was himself a breeder at heart
and you can see that in the way he handles the breeding department
which don't come into flower until the second year
it can take time to gain seed," says Schieder
Perennial breeding methods"For seed-proof varieties and/or varieties bred in a specific breeding line
new varieties can be brought to market within two to three years
it can take up to 15 years to develop a new variety for hybrids
you basically have to know today what's going to happen with crops in the market 15 years from now."
Various questions preoccupy the breeding department in this regard: "Which pathogens play a role
Either you are simply lucky in these challenges or you have the right technology
When you develop individual resistance genes using a certain marker technology
you're already well positioned in terms of marker technology."
A grain developed through a breeding process can be worth up to 150 euros because of the labor involved
F1 here refers to the crosses developed after one year." If one concentrates
on the traits "red" and "powdery mildew resistance," breeding can take between eight to ten years
"I may have resistant varieties after five years
The CRISPR/Cas system also gives us new options in this regard."
the easiest way to collect samples is to prick out a leaf disc from different plants and perform leaf disc tests
"This involves spraying Bremia in pure culture onto the leaves
It can be observed here whether a fungal lawn develops or not
Afterwards one can start with different crossings
certain seedlings will grow Bremia - or not
you can test your way step by step through the entire infection chain."
"We thus have a large collection of wild plants at our disposal that we can use again and again for the tests
As soon as a colleague finds an infected plant
we can send a sample to our colleagues in the Netherlands
we always know which form of Bremia is spreading at which location
Bremia is not only found in Germany or Europe
but also in the USA and other countries," says Dr
The organic seed company Vitalis was founded in 1994 by Jan Velema
Vitalis has been an independent sister company of Enza Zaden
"Organic cultivation has just as many problems with Bremia as conventional cultivation
there are a lot of new varieties coming on the market that are bred for both organic and conventional production."