Seminis, a developer of seeds for growers of fresh fruit and vegetables, has expanded its Summer Slice watermelon line with four new varieties. Two of the varieties, Joy Ride and Summer Breeze were released during the first part of 2015, and the other two, Road Trip and Wingman, were made available during the latter half of the same year.
“Joy Ride is primarily different in terms of size,” said Drew Johnson, watermelon development manager for Seminis. That variety is a hybrid that produces a large percentage of 36-count melons that have firm fruit and thick rinds.
“If you look at consumption, you see consumers buying smaller watermelons for the convenience,” said Johnson. “It's also convenient for processors, so we want to give growers versatile melons that can be used across different segments.”
Road Trip produces a smaller melon, skewing more toward 45-count fruit. In addition to excellent internal and external qualities, the plant has vigorous vines and produces uniformly-shaped melons. Its adaptability to a variety of settings and high yield potential also make it stand out.
Producing melons in the 45-60 count, Summer Breeze also has high yield potential. Despite a thin rind, it's also suitable for shipping, which makes it an attractive product. Wingman, on the other hand, is meant to be used as an extended flowering pollenizer that improves the likelihood of necessary pollen during flowering. It doesn't compete with neighboring melons for resources, and it's easily distinguished from other melons so as not to cause any confusing during harvesting.
“We've been breeding for years, and we now have a healthy pipeline of melons due to our investment in breeding watermelons,” said Johnson. “All of these melons are based on key factors like quality, size, yield, disease tolerance and brix, and all of these varieties meet the threshold for those characteristics.”
For more information:
Erica Kirsch
+1 618 316 3917
