New broccoli hybrid can thrive in colder climates
Love it or hate it, broccoli is one of the most popular vegetables in the United States. However, this basic vegetable can be as capricious as a difficult eater with regard to its growth. It is a temperate harvest that loves cooler nights and predictable times to thrive. These two conditions become much more difficult to find because of climate change.
To solve this problem, a team from Cornell University and the Dutch seed company Bejo Zaden has developed a new hybrid broccoli called Northstar. It can withstand the warmer and more unpredictable conditions, widening the regions where this important vegetable can push.
Currently, around 90% of broccoli in the United States is cultivated in California. More frequent forest fires and extreme weather conditions endanger sustainable production.
“With broccoli, you are generally limited to temperate areas with more moderate growth conditions and cooler nights,” said Phillip Griffiths, a breeder of Cornell Agritech plants, in a press release. “Improvement of broccoli varieties which are more resistant to heat and environmental stress can considerably extend agroecological areas for production.”
Broccoli grows well in warmer climates, but Northstar was raised to thrive in cooler places like New York, New England and Quebec. This versatility could help meet the regional broccoli requests.
According to Griffiths, Northstar also provides a new model on how plant farmers in the public and private sectors can work together by combining “parental materials”. He said that breeders are like chiefs, who bring their own approach to individual reproduction and the desire to put their own turn on the final product.
For Northstar, Cornell and Bejo each contributed a mother plant. After 12 years of development in Cornell Agritech, Griffiths sent plants to Bejo Breeder Cees Sinenie in 2012. The Cornell line was developed in variable growth conditions of New York and selected for genes that allow normal development despite hot nights. These features are generally absent from Broccoli’s commercial reproduction programs. With the Cornell, Sintenie and others in Bejo plants worked for 12 years to identify the new promising combination.
“It represents a merger of public farming efforts in the longer term with the efforts of the private sector,” said Griffiths. “The parent of Cornell was more focused on environmental resilience and theirs on commercial quality, but ultimately, the combination of these efforts led to something that will benefit people from the North East, from the East Coast and beyond.”
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Bejo tested the variety of Northstar in the company’s research center in Geneva, New York. Currently, a test with producers from the south of New Jersey to the most northern counties of Maine concludes, the broccoli directed towards the market.
Jay Collier, director of vegetable crops for Kludt Brothers Farms in Kendall, New York, reported that their test culture had resisted, even for an exceptionally hot and dry year. Northstar’s longer stem also facilitates harvesting and produces a superior quality group. Necklace also added that he had not seen any hollow stem, which generally makes the broccoli unshakable.
“It is a learning experience for all those involved,” said necklace. “None of us know how it will react until we try.” Necklace also plans to plant it again next year, perhaps on a larger scale.
Bejo breeder, Coes Sinenie, said he was planning that Northstar will be a commercial success. “It is a variety with good adaptability to thermal stress, it makes a vigorous and healthy frame and produces a beautiful head,” said Sinenie. “It stands out especially in the warm years … it’s a unique variety.”
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