South Korea: Asia Seed develops new coloured radish

The rapid growth of the Korean economy has entailed changes in vegetable consumption trends, with them being perceived as health supplements, rather than mere food materials. “Following this trend, we intended to develop a radish that could meet these expectations. Originally, we focused on the fact that purple fruits and vegetables, such as grapes, black beans, blueberries, purple sweet potatoes and red onions contain a lot of anthocyanins, which have antioxidant, anti-aging and anti-cancer effects; this is how purple radish originated,” explains Radish Breeder Yoon Su.

To this end, a wide range of genetic resources of coloured radish from China, Japan, Europe, United States and other countries were collected and tested, in search of specific characteristics. Yoon says that, “As a result, we picked out certain target traits and tried to blend them into a radish suitable for the Korean market. We had difficulties getting the target character expressed on root type, root skin and the root pulp’s colour; however, we successfully selected an outstanding combination, and a new variety had been created.”

The success of the project is not just in its results, but also in the efficiency with which it was achieved. “While the process for the development of new varieties normally takes no shorter than 8 to 10 years, at Asia Seed we managed to develop the new radish within as short as 4 to 5 years, thanks to the great pool of genetic resources that we have,” affirms Yoon.

He/she also explains that “radishes have self-incompatibility, which means they cannot produce seed by self-pollination. Using this characteristic, we propagate the original plant and produce the hybrid plant in a thoroughly separated field for open pollination and seed production.”

The target market for this product is South Korea, as well as Koreans living overseas. Yoon assures that “by targeting Korea’s niche market, we support growers to be more productive and profitable. We’re also meeting needs of distributors, producers and consumers by developing the right varieties they need. This is how we contribute to Korean agricultural market.”

As regards cultivation, Korea has three cycles; the first one with planting in late August and harvest in mid-November, the second in Jeju Island from mid-September to January to March, and the last one is highland cultivation, with sowing in early to late July and harvesting in mid-September.

“At Asia Seed, we are constantly placing great efforts in improving the genetic purity. Except for this issue, there seems to be no other drawbacks. If growers need anything to be improved, we will work on it and solve any problems,” concludes Yoon.

For more information:
ASIA SEED CO., LTD
7th Floor, BaekAm Building, 150 JungDae-Ro,
SongPa-Gu, Seoul, KOREA 138-160
Telephone: +82-2-443-4303
FAX: +82-2-431-9164
Web: www.asiaseed.net
E-Mail: herbseed@chol.net
asiaseed@asiaseed.co.kr

Author: Yzza Ibrahim / Juan Zea Estelles