TAINAN, Taiwan - Sharing techniques and genetic material between AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center and Qingdao Academy of Agricultural Sciences in the People’s Republic of China is bearing fruit: In late June, Prof. Huang Ting-Ting, tomato breeder at the Qingdao Academy of Agricultural Sciences, announced the development of two tomato lines, F2-21 and F2 X 04-3, that are derived from AVRDC’s late blight resistant inbred line CLN2037, with resistance to late blight, Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and leaf mold.
These two new lines passed the examination by a governmental identification committee on 27 June 2009 and they were approved for release to farmers to allow for more efficient disease control. In addition to disease resistance, the new lines also show tolerance to low temperatures and low light intensity. These features make
them suitable for cultivation in protected greenhouses, particularly in northern China. The line F2-21 has been named ‘Shatong.’
This recent breeding success will not be an isolated case: Several other institutes in the People’s Republic of China are currently working on new tomato varieties with resistance to late blight and expect to release them soon.
