RESEARCH ON VEGETABLES

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29016, 3 October 1959, Page 17

RESEARCH ON VEGETABLES

Disease-Resistant Types Produced (Neiv Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, October 2. Working on the principle that prevention is better than cure, the Crop Research Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research is steadily developing vegetables which are resistant to disease. Disease control by chemicals is a recurring expenditure of cash, man-hours, and equipment, and the effectiveness of the control measures are dependent upon conditions of plant growth and suitable climatic conditions for spraying operations. Chemical control adds to the final cost of producing the vegetables. Among the recent improved varieties of vegetables released is a variety of glasshouse tomato —V 548—which was selected from a Canadian introduction. This new variety is easy to handle and exhibits resistance to blotch and leaf mould.

A new variety of garden pea— Onward W.R.—developed from the standard Onward strain, is wilt resistant, while yield and quality are equal to that of the original variety. Continuous selection of cabbage strains has resulted in a high standard which has convinced the seed trade and the industry of the value of the plant improvement scheme. Last year the strain Omega—a late Savoy—was produced.