St. Louis, Missouri, USA
August 28, 2014
Further demonstrating that its vegetable varieties continue to get better with every generation, Seminis® today announced the launch of its new Dixie Red hybrid tomato seed. With its larger fruit, better disease package and higher yield potential compared to Florida 47 R hybrid tomato seed, the variety is expected to quickly become an industry leader.
“Dixie Red tomato seed will help growers get more fruit out of their fields, which is something they really care about,” said Alfredo Moreno, Seminis Technology Development Representative. “I’ve observed Dixie Red through multiple field trials, and it clearly stood out in this capacity -- producing more pounds per acre than Florida 47 R in most trials.”
One reason for Dixie Red’s increased productivity potential can be attributed to its strong disease package, providing the opportunity for more fruit to be harvested at the end of the growth season. The variety features high resistance2 to Tomato spotted wilt virus, Alternanaria stem canker, Fusarium wilt, Gray leaf spot and Verticillium wilt.
Additional benefits of Dixie Red include an earlier maturity (87 days) compared to Florida 47 R, intermediate resistance3 to Root-knot nematodes, hot set capabilities, as well as its ability to be harvested when it’s green or red, while still maintaining its firm fruit.
Dixie Red tomato seed will initially be available in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, and is ideal for the main growing season in those states as well as in the fall in Florida. Next year, Seminis plans to make the variety available throughout the Northeast U.S. as well.
“We’re proud of the research and trials that brought Dixie Red to where it is today,” said Moreno. “But that’s just the beginning. Seminis continues to invest in developing the best hybrids. We’re looking forward to more varieties coming down the pipeline in the future.”
About Monsanto Vegetable Seeds Division
Monsanto Company’s Vegetable Seeds Division is focused on innovation to improve the quality and productivity of vegetables grown from our seeds. Monsanto invests in research and development and uses the latest technology not only to deliver the best products to the consumer, but also to provide yield and value to the customer, the grower and to their customers, the chain partners. Monsanto’s Vegetable Seeds Division is represented through Seminis® and Du Ruiter® seed brands. For more information about Seminis®, visit www.seminis-us.com.
Individual results may vary, and performance may vary from location to location and from year to year. This result may not be an indicator of results you may obtain as local growing, soil and weather conditions may vary. Growers should evaluate data from multiple locations and years whenever possible.
Monsanto and Vine Design® is a registered trademark of Monsanto Technology LLC. Seminis® is a registered trademark of Seminis Vegetable Seeds, Inc. De Ruiter® is a registered trademark of Monsanto Invest N.V. ©2014 Seminis Vegetable Seeds, Inc.
1) Source: Florida, 2013
2) High Resistance: The ability of a plant variety to highly restrict the activities of a specific pathogen or insect pest and/or to restrict the symptoms and signs of a disease, when compared to susceptible varieties. Varieties with high resistance may exhibit some symptoms when specified pathogen or pest pressure is severe. New and/or atypical strains of the specific pathogen or pest may overcome the resistance.
3) Intermediate Resistance: The ability of a plant variety to restrict the growth and development of the specified pest or pathogen, but may exhibit a greater range of symptoms compared to varieties with high resistance. Intermediate resistance plant varieties will still show less severe symptoms or damage than susceptible plant varieties when grown under similar environmental conditions and/or pest or pathogen pressure.
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