Eurosemillas shares latest results of new avocado varieties research

With the vision "Innovation + Producers", Eurosemillas works to create an alternative to traditional companies within the plant innovation sector, supporting its partners in achieving results through research and promotion, advice, and the implementation of innovative solutions.

Fructidor had the opportunity to interview Eurosemillas and find out what is happening at the moment in its research center.

Eurosemillas already had an intense collaboration with the University of California Riverside. The star fruit of this agreement was the Tango mandarin variety. "It is a late variety, without seeds, that travels very well and makes success," reports Eurosemillas. From this variety, the Tango Fruit brand has been developed. In Europe it is called Tang Gold.

Green Motion is a project developed by Eurosemillas and UC Riverside, which focuses on research of new avocado varieties.

“The problem with the Hass avocado is the limitation of production areas. 80% of world avocado production is concentrated in the top 10 producers. And a very large percentage of that 80% is monopolized only by Mexico. Avocado cultivation has very specific requirements, such as the absence of frost risk. What they intend to do with the University of California is to expand the cultivation areas, produce new varieties that provide added value for Hass avocado, and highlight what could mitigate problems such as phytophthora or unfavorable environmental conditions.", explains Eurosemillas.

With the fruit of this collaboration, it was possible to access the most important germplasm bank in the world. It is one of the greatest opportunities to improve the supply of avocados. This project, which was a duality between Eurosemillas and UC Riverside, was expanded and acquired an international dimension when the first producer and exporter, Mission Produce, was introduced. From there, other producers began to join and now there are 15 companies.

“The product we are advancing with is a pollinator. The avocado needs pollination at the time of flowering to gain in production. Fruit trees that are called pollinators are placed there. The problem we face is that these fruit trees do contribute to increasing the production of the rest of the plantation by 10-20%, but the fruits that were these pollinators are not in a suitable condition to be marketed. "

For more information about Eurosemillas, see the website