- Sakata Unveils New
- Vegetable Varieties
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By Lisa Lieberman
California Correspondent
During its 25th annual vegetable field day in Salinas, Calif., Sakata Seed America Inc., introduced a number of new vegetables varieties that promise to provide growers with better quality and higher yields.
Sakata representatives also discussed a new seed priming process, which they say, improves germination and performance in all of its seeds. While Sakata is best known for its broccoli, the company has launched several new carrot lines in order to diversify its market share, said Kraig Kuykendall, Sakata’s area manager of product development and sales in Morgan Hill, Calif.
Sakata started experimenting with carrots 10 years ago and began selling carrot seeds in volume three years ago, Kuykendall said. “Carrots are our new hope for branching out. Sakata has been known for its broccoli and cauliflower programs, but there’s been less broccoli acreage planted in the past few years, and we felt we needed to diversify,” Kuykendall said.
The three main carrot varieties Sakata offers are two cut and peel carrots - Trinity and Columbia-and Arrowhead, a cello type carrot. Out of the two cut and peel carrots, Trinity seems to have better length and a more cylindrical shape from top to bottom, Kuykendall said. Trinity typically measures 11 inches in length and one-half of an inch in diameter, he said. Trinity’s uniform diameter equates to higher yields and better returns for the growers, Kuykendall said.
“Growers can make more money on Trinity than on other varieties, because its cylindrical from top to bottom and has good tip fill. This means you can cut your two-inch pieces all the way from top to bottom,” Kuykendall said. Columbia has many of the same attributes as Trinity in terms of color, flavor, smoothness, and uniformity in shape and size, Kuykendall said.
While Sakata Seed has mostly concentrated on breeding carrots for the Japanese, market, there’s a lot more room for growth in the multi-million carrot seed market in California, Kuykendall said.
Despite the declining broccoli acreage in California, Sakata is also working on several new promising broccoli varieties, he said. Sakata’s new SBC 9311 which fits the late spring through early fall time slot, should make a good complement to Sakata’s Gypsy and Patron broccoli varieties, Kuykendall said.
“We planted it on the coast and it looked extremely good last year,” Kuykendall said.
“Typically, broccoli can be a little bit uneven in its maturing patterns. You can make a pass through the field and harvest 50 percent of it the first time, 20 percent the second time, and then another 10 percent the third time. By the time you do the third harvest, you still have 10 to 15 percent in the field,” he said.
The problem with harvesting a field so many times is that growers can’t water the remaining broccoli in the field on a consistent basis, Kuykendall said.
“This means that the plants in the fields don’t get all the care they need,” he said. Since SBC 9311 has such good uniformity, growers will have to make one less pass in the fields during harvest. This will help growers save time and money on labor, plus enable them to harvest their plants in a shorter period of time.
“This can be a real plus if the market’s good, but it can be a negative if the market is horrible, and you have a whole field of it that has to be harvested at once,” he said.
Tom Hussar, Sakata’s brasica manager, said that SBC 9311 is a particularly adaptable variety for the desert areas of California and Arizona as well as for the San Joaquin Valley.
“The main point is that it’s a mid maturing type broccoli with very fine beads and very good weight. Fine beads are a quality characteristic that is very important to buyers,” Hussar said.
Since SBC 9311 matures almost a week later than other varieties, such as Gypsy, it may help growers to plant the two varieties side by side in one block.
“That way they can harvest one side of the block, and move right over and harvest the other side of the block,” Hussar said.
Sakata’s long-time Monterey variety is also selling well in the desert and in other areas of the Southwest, Hussar said.
“People are starting to use it more during January harvest slots, because it’s a good variety for crown cuts, which are good for export,” Hussar said. More farmers these days are looking for varieties that are adaptable in terms of planting locations, which also lend themselves to more lucrative export markets, Hussar said.
“People are looking for export broccoli that has good, round shape and a nice smooth head as well as fine beads, short branching habits and bigger stalks,” Hussar said. Sakata’s Marathon variety, a highly adaptable type of broccoli, which is tolerant to brown bead and hollow core, is also popular among buyers, Hussar said.
Another desert broccoli that may be ready to enter the market in volume is Destiny. Destiny works especially well on the front end of the planting season, Kuykendall said.
“Destiny gets really good weight and good uniform head types as well as good bead size. Most broccoli is very sensitive to extreme weather changes, but Destiny does well in extreme climates,” Kuykendall said.
In addition to carrots and broccoli, Sakata has also been trialing several new radish varieties, said Denney McKay, assistant area manager for Sakata in Yuma, AZ. The most important attributes of any radish variety is its ability to produce uniform size and shape and resist pithing, McKay said.
In the United States, growers need radishes with strong tops that can be harvested mechanically. As the harvester picks the radishes, the heads are removed before they’re taken to the processing plants where their tails are removed. In Mexico, where radishes are handpicked due to cheaper labor costs, growers also need radishes with sturdy tops.
Sakata’s new pepper, chili and jalapeno programs have recently been taking off, said Howard Adams, Sakata’s branch manager in Lehigh, Fla.
“We’re seeing tremendous increases in sales in jalapenos. The consumption of chili peppers is increasing in North America, which is also helping our sales,” Adams said. Sakata’s El Rey, jalapeno produces tremendous quantities of extra large fruit on a compact plant, which is also resistant to bacterial leaf spot, Adams said.
In its bell pepper division, Sakata’s Double Up variety is also resistant to bacterial leaf spot and has a uniform square shape. “This pepper does the best in Central Florida, although it can perform in other areas as well. It’s been out about three years, and has replaced Enterprise and Brigadier because of its very much improved shape and smoothness,” Adams said.
While Sakata seeks to improve all of its vegetable and fruit varieties every year, the company has also been offering a priming seed process, Primax, to its buyers, which improves germination and uniformity on all crops, Kuykendall said.
