Coming to a plate near you: New fruits and vegetables from Cornell

By Linda McCandless

Good things often crop up when state vegetable and berry growers get together. This year, six new varieties of fruits and vegetables had their official releases by Cornell plant breeders at the annual New York State Vegetable Conference and Berry Growers Meeting Feb. 10 in Liverpool. The varieties include two new raspberries, a summer squash, a head lettuce and two potatoes -- all particularly adapted to New York growing conditions and suitable for commercial production.

"The new varieties we are introducing illustrate the continuing importance of plant breeding programs at public institutions such as Cornell University," said Daryl Lund, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. "To help New York growers remain competitive, we develop high quality varieties that incorporate pest resistance, require fewer pesticides and help producers keep one step ahead of the insects, the diseases, the climate and consumer demand."

The two new red raspberries bred by Cornell researchers John Sanford, associate professor, and Kevin Maloney, research support specialist, both at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, are a boon to both growers and consumers. "Prelude ripens early and Encore ripens late," said Maloney, describing the varieties. "Extending the season in both directions allows growers to get the premium first and last fruit prices and lets New York consumers eat locally produced berries from June through September, rather than those shipped in, which are not as fresh."

The new summer squash is a Caserta-type called Whitaker, and the new head lettuce is an Ithaca-type called Onondaga. "Both are remarkable for disease resistance that is derived from wild species," said Richard W. Robinson, the vegetable breeder and Cornell professor at the experiment station who worked with research support specialist Joseph W. Shail to develop the new varieties. Wild species are highly regarded as sources of insect and disease resistance because their resistance is developed by centuries of natural selection, but wild genes are very difficult to incorporate into domestic varieties. Robinson and Shail were successful using conventional breeding techniques, but only after making hundreds of crosses.

The two new potato varieties were developed by Robert Plaisted, a Cornell professor emeritus and a highly respected potato breeder. "Salem is an early emerging, mid-season potato with high-yielding ability, bred for table stock," said Plaisted. "Reba is a mid- to late-season potato bred for both the potato chip market and table use."

Plaisted's hallmark contribution to the New York potato industry is that all potatoes released by his program are resistant to the golden nematode. This pest, unique in this country to New York state, can significantly impact yield and marketing of the crop and is most efficiently controlled using environmentally safe plant resistance. Certified seed for both potatoes will be available for the 1998 growing season.

"It is unusual for our fruit and vegetable breeders to have so many new releases in one year," said James Hunter, director of the Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, where the lettuce, the squash and the raspberries were developed. "New varieties are the result of long-term collaboration among researchers and industry. Only the very best selections among thousands are ever released for commercial use to nurseries and seeds companies. Finding the right one is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Varieties can require as many as 10 to 15 years to breed, test and evaluate, and another 10 to 20 years before they are commercially accepted. The squash and the lettuce and the potatoes are important because of their disease resistance. The raspberries will help growers meet the demand for berries all summer long."

A raspberry released almost 30 years ago by Geneva, Heritage, is now the industry standard for fall production, he noted.

Both Lund and Hunter credit the potato, vegetable and berry growers for helping th e public and the college fund the long-term research projects necessary for the development of these new varieties.

"Our members are extremely proud of the researchers at Cornell who continue to come up with new varieties to benefit consumers and growers," said Larry Eckhardt, president of the New York State Vegetable Growers. "Producers in New York rely on research conducted at the Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva and the Ithaca campus to stay competitive. We look forward to future releases that will continue to help us meet the challenges of growing high quality produce in New York."