Red onions are
definitely flavour of the year with consumers - and NIAB is
running trials on 10 new varieties to help growers keep pace
with demand.
Over the past 25 years,
NIAB has had only five
varieties in trials, but this year, the number has shot up to
10, because consumers find the red onions more eye-catching in
salads.
The demand for red onions is also being fuelled
by TV cookery programmes and by demand from major fast food
outlets.
Three years ago, the red onion crop totalled
35,000 tonnes; last year, it rose to 41,000 tonnes and this year
it has topped 50,000 tonnes. Red onions now represent 20% of the
UK onion crop.
Feverish activity
The dominant red onion in recent years has been
Red Baron, but recently there has been feverish activity by
breeders who have been busy developing modern hybrids to
challenge this variety, which has been around for more than 15
years.
To try and feed this insatiable appetite, NIAB
has for the last three years been testing Nickersons Red Pearl
and Bejo's Hyred. However, this year, 10 red varieties have been
sown in trials.
The new varieties in seeded trials include: Red
Spark, BGS 185 and Red Fort from Bejo, Red Kite from Seminis,
Romy from Agriseed, Kamal from Steve Howe/Advanta as well as two
Australian-bred varieties, Oaklands Red and Red Marksman from
ProVeg.
Variety results
The results of the first year of NIAB trials,
funded by Horticultural Development Council and the seed
companies, has shown that BGS 185 is the earliest variety to
mature - a few days before Red Baron. However, while they looked
superb in the field, the bulbs appeared to be a little pale.
NIAB is waiting to see next year's crop to check the colour is
sufficiently red.
Red Spark, which matured five days after Red
Baron, is a slightly darker red than Red Baron and slightly more
elongated, but more uniform in shape.
The slightly elongated Red Fort was the deepest
red of all, maturing eight days after Red Baron. Red Pearl
matures at the same time as Red Fort, is a deep red, but is
flatter in shape.
Red Kite matures five days after Red Baron, but
has a lower yield than Red Spark because of its propensity to
bolt and produce a lot of double bulbs.
Kamal proved to be a successful early mid-season
variety with an average yield of smallish bulbs with a good
colour.
Romy, an open-pollinated variety, matures about
eight days after Red Baron, with an average yield of round dark
red bulbs.
The two Australian varieties in trial did not
adapt well to the UK climate and they bolted badly.
NIAB Vegetable Consultant, Mike Day, said: "In
all my years at NIAB, I have never seen such a massive demand
for new red onion varieties, but this is a reflection of
consumer demand. This year, the new varieties had their work cut
out competing with Red Baron, which delivered a particularly
good harvest. It is the highest yielding red variety, but it
lacks uniformity of shape."
