A Hardy And Healthy Tomato Hybrid

In a first for South Africa, the development of marketable hybrid tomatoes promised fruit that was hardy, robust, grew vigorously, and had uniform fruit set and size, as revealed in this article from the early eighties.

Commercially viable hybrid tomatoes, bred in South Africa for the first time, promise greater resistance to disease, will yield more prolifically, will produce fruit of a uniform size, and will have a longer shelf life.

The successful development of hybrids is seen as a significant step forward in the breeding of tomatoes in South Africa.

Limited amounts of experimental seed are available at the moment; however, seed in quantity for commercial growers may not be ready for a little while.

Rodney Zingel, the plant breeder at a leading seed company, Mayford, says the hybrids are resistant to most of the main tomato killers, such as Fusarium wilt (both strains), root-knot nematode and verticillium wilt.

Hybrid seed will be more expensive than the open-pollinated variety, and a grower must weigh the advantages of the hybrid against the increased production costs.

ADAPTABILITY OF A HYBRID