On April 20, a new tomato variety, as known as “Beiweimei”, bred by Prof. Ye Zhibiao and his team from the College of Horticulture & Forestry Sciences of Huazhong Agricultural University（hereinafter referred to as “HZAU”）made its debut in the Horticulture Industry High-quality Development Seminar and High-quality Tomato Tasting in Shouguang, Shandong Province.
“The most outstanding feature of this variety is its superior taste!” As Prof. Ye introduced, the tomato variety embraces advantages on its strong flavor, tender and crunchy texture, sweet and unique smells, outdoing the tomatoes we had had in our childhood. What’s more, it can be stored for a long time without losing its sugar content and it is also featured by high resistance.
At the Shouguang Modern Agricultural High-tech Experimental Demonstration Base, Prof. Deng Xiuxin, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (hereinafter referred to as “CAE”), got to know about the whole process of the cultivation and management of “Beiweimei”. He praised the variety for its high quality and commercial value. He also hoped that it could be developed better and better, contributing to a healthier and better life and the fulfillment of people’s demand for high-quality tomatoes.
Prof. Zou Xuexiao, a member of the CAE, presided over the Session on Tomato Variety “Beiweimei”. The panel believed that this variety has high levels of technology maturity and innovation, and among other similar researches has reached the international advanced level in general, especially in the breeding of high-quality tomato varieties.
“Beiweimei” is a fruit of advanced science and technology. The research team of Prof. Ye had identified 3,950 tomato germplasm, innovated over 10,025 germplasm, including 68 elite ones, and developed 15 tomato quality markers. Also, an advanced technology system for molecular markers and genome-assisted tomato quality breeding has been established and applied in tomato breeding bases, significantly improving the efficiency of tomato quality breeding. Its “twin sisters” also included 11 high quality tomato varieties such as large tomatoes with suitable sweet and acid flavor and strong adaptability. At present, the new varieties have been planted in many provinces with a total area of about 21 million hectares, bringing significant economic, social and ecological benefits.
At the Session, an agreement on the market application of “Beiweimei” was signed, with the amount of application of a variety exceeding 50 million yuan. Yao Jianglin, vice president of HZAU, expressed that under the principles of innovation for country, society and people, Prof. Ye had cultivated a popular tomato variety through genomic breeding technology after 10 years of research and development. He also noted that it was the most valuable variety application project in recent years, and hoped that the variety could take root in China and make its way to the world.
Source: http://news.hzau.edu.cn/2024/0421/69502.shtml
Translated by Huang He
Proofread by Chen Lin
