The onion crop is of great importance in Argentina and, with garlic (Allium sativum L.), is the main fresh vegetable exported. The principal market for Argentine onions is Brazil, with significant exports to Europe and the United States. About 450,000 t of onions are produced yearly on 22,000 ha, for the freshmarket
and dehydration industries (Galmarini, 1998). Onion seed production is also important in Argentina; ≈50,000 kg of seed is produced annually by domestic and international seed companies.EEA La ConsultaFil: Galmarini, Claudio Romulo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria La Consulta; Argentina

Galmarini, Claudio Romulo

HortScience

English

Repositorio Institucional – Biblioteca Digital

HORTSCIENCE 35(7):1360–1362. 2000.Received for publication 25 Oct. 1999. Accepted forpublication 22 Mar. 2000. The cost of publishingthis paper was defrayed in part by the payment ofpage charges. Under postal regulations, this papertherefore must be hereby marked advertisementsolely to indicate this fact.Onion Cultivars Released byLa Consulta Experiment Station,INTA, ArgentinaClaudio R. GalmariniEstación Experimental Agropecuaria La Consulta, Instituto Nacional deTecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), C.C. 8 (5567), La Consulta, Mendoza,ArgentinaAdditional index words. Allium cepa, vegetable breeding, dehydration, seed production‘Híbrido Industria INTA’. From 1978 to 1988,Rubén Oliva, who emphasized seed produc-tion, continued the program. Since 1988,Claudio Galmarini has been in charge of theprogram. In the 1990s, the fresh-market culti-vars Cobriza INTA, Navideña INTA, andAntártica INTA were released (Galmarini etal., 1995). A special agreement was estab-lished between a dehydration company and LaConsulta Experimental Station to developopen-pollinated populations and hybrids withhigh solids content. In 1997, the cultivar Refinta20 was released (Galmarini, 1998). The culti-vars released by La Consulta ExperimentStation onion-breeding program account formore than 80% of the onions cultivated inArgentina.The current goals of the program are earlymaturity, good storage ability, and introduc-tion of resistance to pink root into intermediateand long-day, open-pollinated cultivars and F1hybrids. Classical breeding methods, includ-ing mass, pedigree, and recurrent selection,are being used. In vitro culture techniques(e.g., ovule and ovary culture) are used tohasten the production of homozygous lines byhaploidy. Several haploid plants have beenproduced and double haploids are being tested(Martinez et al., 1997). Randomly amplifiedpolymorphic DNA (RAPDs) have been iden-tified to fingerprint some of the new onioncultivars (Masuelli and Galmarini, 1996).Origin and descriptionRecurrent selection was used to developthe new cultivars. ‘Valenciana’ populationswere used to develop the cultivars ValcatorceINTA, Valuno INTA, Cobriza INTA, andAntártica INTA. ‘Valenciana’ populationstrace back to ‘Grano’-type onions from theValencia region of Spain; the long-storingcultivar Pukekohe Long Keeper of NewZealand and its Australian derivative cultivarCreamgold are believed to be derived from thesame Spanish origin (Brewster, 1994).‘Torrentina’ populations, which have beenknown for more than 100 years in Argentinaand may have originated in southern Spain,were used to develop ‘Navideña INTA’.‘Refinta 20’ originated from a selection from‘Southport White Globe’ populations (Gal-marini et al., 1997). S1 family selection was thecommon strategy used for the development of‘Navideña INTA’, ‘Cobriza INTA’ and ‘Refinta20’, whereas mass selection was used in thecase of ‘Valcatorce INTA’, ‘Valuno INTA’ and‘Antártica INTA’. Currently available cultivarsare described below and in Table 1.‘Valcatorce INTA’ was selected from‘Valenciana Synthetic 14’, requires 14-hphotoperiods to produce bulbs, is a moderate tolate-maturing cultivar, and has globe-shapedbulbs of medium size, two to three dark-brownscales (Fig. 1), pungent and firm flesh, boltingresistance, and excellent keeping quality(Table 1). It is sown from August to Septem-ber and harvested from January to February.‘Valcatorce INTA’ is the most commonlygrown cultivar in Argentina, and is also grownin Chile and Uruguay (Escaff et al., 1973).The onion crop is of great importance inArgentina and, with garlic (Allium sativumL.), is the main fresh vegetable exported. Theprincipal market for Argentine onions is Brazil,with significant exports to Europe and theUnited States. About 450,000 t of onions areproduced yearly on 22,000 ha, for the fresh-market and dehydration industries (Galmarini,1998). Onion seed production is also impor-tant in Argentina; ≈50,000 kg of seed is pro-duced annually by domestic and internationalseed companies.For decades, onion-breeding programs inArgentina have been developing short-, inter-mediate-, and long-day cultivars. Most Argen-tine cultivars trace back to local landraces,known as “Criollas,” that are becoming rare(Galmarini, 1994). Today, most of the culti-vars used in Argentina originate from domes-tic breeding programs. However, few descrip-tions of these cultivars exist, other than thosefound in brief release notices.The main onion-breeding program inArgentina is located at La Consulta Experi-mental Station (INTA) (lat. 33°44´S, long.69°7´W). Other breeding programs emphasiz-ing early maturing onions have been carriedout at the San Juan Experimental Station(INTA) and the Santiago del Estero Experi-mental Station (INTA). Breeding work hasalso taken place in several national universi-ties and local seed companies.At La Consulta, the onion-breeding pro-gram was initiated by José Crnko in 1948.Crnko used local ‘Valenciana’ populationsand selected for improved bolting resistanceand keeping quality to produce synthetic cul-tivars. ‘Valenciana Synthetics 1 and 2’ werereleased in 1958 (Cavia and Crnko, 1958).‘Valenciana Synthetic 14’ was released in1966 and ‘Valenciana Synthetic 15’ in 1970,by Crnko and Lona (Crnko, 1998). Of thesereleases, only ‘Valenciana Synthetics 1 and14’ were used for further breeding. Jorge Lonadirected the onion breeding program from1969 until 1976 and developed several male-sterile and maintainer lines, and the F1 hybridFig. 1. Bulbs of onion cultivars Valcatorce INTA, Cobriza INTA, Antártica INTA, and Navideña INTA.‘Valuno INTA’ was selected from‘Valenciana Synthetic 1’; requires 14-h pho-toperiods to produce bulbs; is a moderate tolate-maturing cultivar; has a lighter yellowcolor; larger bulbs (Fig. 2), and shorter keep-ing time than ‘Valcatorce INTA’ (Table 1). Itis sown from August to September and har-vested from January to March.‘Cobriza INTA’ was selected from a‘Valenciana’ population using S1 family se-lection (Galmarini et al., 1995). It has photo-periodic requirements for bulb formationsimilar to those of ‘Valcatorce INTA’, me-dium-sized, globe-shaped bulbs, with four tofive dark-brown scales (Fig. 1), pungent andfirm flesh, bolting resistance, and excellentkeeping quality (Table 1). The yields andproduction cycles are similar to those of‘Valcatorce INTA’ (Table 1). ‘Cobriza INTA’may have a great impact on the domestic onionmarket, because it yields as well as ‘ValcatorceINTA’, but is of better quality.‘Navideña INTA’ was selected from local‘Torrentina’ populations from the north ofMendoza and San Juan provinces (Galmariniet al., 1995). It requires 13-h photoperiods forbulb formation and has brown globe bulbswith two to three colored scales (Fig. 1). Thebulbs are less pungent than those of the‘Valenciana’ types; the flavor was estimatedusing a taste panel, as described by Wall andCorgan (1992). At Mendoza, it reaches matu-rity at the end of December.‘Antártica INTA’ was selected from whitebulbs segregating in ‘Valenciana’ populations.These bulbs were combined to develop a whitepopulation from which the new cultivar wasselected (Galmarini et al., 1995). ‘AntárticaINTA’ has photoperiodic requirements forbulb formation similar to those of ‘ValcatorceINTA’ and good keeping quality (Fig. 1). Theproduction cycle is also similar to ‘ValcatorceINTA’.‘Refinta 20’ originated from ‘SouthportWhite Globe’ after mass selection for highsolids (Galmarini et al., 1997). It has white,pungent bulbs (Fig. 2) and an average totalsolids content of 20%, more than 3% higherthan the totals solids of the populationsTable 1. Meanz performance of onion cultivars released by La Consulta Experiment Station INTA onion breeding program.CultivarTrait Valcatorce Valuno Cobriza Antártica Navideña Refinta 20Bulb shape Round Round Round Round Round, slightly Top-shaped RoundBulb skin color Dark-yellow Yellow Dark-brown White Light-yellow WhiteN° of colored scales 3 3 4.5 2 2.5 2Bulb diameter (cm)y 7.3 ± 2.3 9.1 ± 2.6 7.0 ± 1.6 6.7 ± 1.7 7.9 ± 2.6 6.0 ± 1.8Bulb weight (g)x 210 ± 31.6 250 ± 33.3 194 ± 22.7 170 ± 20.6 230 ± 28.3 120 ± 17.6Total solids (%)w 13.1 ± 2.3 13.0 ± 2.7 13.3 ± 2.1 14.0 ± 2.6 10.2 ± 2.4 20.9 ± 1.9Maturity (days)v 128 ± 11 144 ± 13 131 ± 12 136 ± 16 107 ± 9 139 ± 12Storage abilityu (days) 185 ± 21 154 ± 29 180 ± 18 145 ± 19 123 ± 24 153 ± 17Yield (t·ha–1) 51.7 ± 11.8 60.1 ± 16.6 50.5 ± 11 45.3 ± 9.6 53.2 ± 21.3 33.8 ± 8.7Bolting (%)t 0 2 0 1 0 1zMeans over at least 2 years (1995–97) at La Consulta (lat. 33°44´S, long. 69°7´W, and 940 m elevation).yThe equatorial bulb diameter was measured.xThe standard plant density was 32 plants per m2.wMeasured after a month in storage. Expressed as a percentage of relative to fresh weight after drying the bulbs to constant weight in an oven.vDays from transplanting to 80% of collapsed foliage.uNumber of days until 50% sprouted under ambient conditions at La Consulta.tPercentage of flowering plants recorded in the season (transplanting on the first week of September).Fig. 2. Bulbs of onion cultivars Refinta 20 (top) and Valuno INTA (bottom).currently used by the Argentine dehydrationindustry. ‘Refinta 20’ is sown from August toSeptember and harvested from January toFebruary. An Argentine dehydration com-pany has exclusive use of this cultivar for 20years.AvailabilityThe released cultivars are registered underthe National Register of Cultivars of Argen-tina, and seed samples are available fromC.R.G.Literature CitedBrewster, J.L. 1994. Onions and other vegetablealliums. CAB Intl., U.K.Cavia, C.E. and J. Crnko. 1958. Tres nuevasvariedades de cebolla tipo Valenciana. Informede Investigaciones Agrarias 127:9–17.Crnko, J. 1998. Historia de la Estación Experimen-tal Agropecuaria La Consulta. Libro delCincuentenario 1948–1998. INTA La Consulta.Escaff, M., A. Aljaro, and C. Montecinos. 1973.Una excelente cebolla de exportación y guarda:Valenciana sintética 14. Investigación yProgreso Agrícola 5:95–96.Galmarini, C.R. 1994. Onion breeding in Argen-tina. Acta Hort. 358:205–209.Galmarini, C.R. 1998. Onion breeding for thedehydration industry in Argentina, p. 42–47.In: Proc. 1998 Natl. Onion Res. Conf., Sacra-mento, Calif.Galmarini, C.R., P. Della Gaspera, and H. Fuligna.1997. Refinta 20 nuevo cultivar de cebolla paradeshidratado, p. 183. In: Resúmenes del XXCongreso Argentino de Horticultura. BahíaBlanca, Sept. 1997.Galmarini, C.R., H. Fuligna, and P. Della Gaspera.1995. Mejoramiento genético de cebolla enArgentina, obtención de tres nuevos cultivares:Cobriza, Navideña y Antártica, p. 195. In:Resúmenes del XVIII Congreso Argentino deHorticultura. Río Hondo, Santiago del Estero.Sept. 1995.Martínez, L.E., C.B. Agüero, and C.R. Galmarini.1997. Obtention of haploid plants by ovuleculture in onions. Acta Hort. 433:447–454Masuelli, R.W. and C.R. Galmarini. 1996. RAPDsto distinguish among four Argentine onion cul-tivars. Allium Improvement Newsl. 6:10–12.Wall, M.M. and J.N. Corgan. 1992. Relationshipbetween pyruvate analysis and flavor percep-tion for onion pungency determination.HortScience 27:1029–1030.

Onion Cultivars Released by La Consulta Experiment Station, INTA, Argentina

http://repositorio.inta.gob.ar:80/bitstream/20.500.12123/7172/1/INTA_CRMendoza-SanJuan_EEALaConsulta_Galmarini_GR_Onion_Cultivars_Released_by_La_Consulta.pdf

Onion Cultivars Released by La Consulta Experiment Station, INTA, Argentina

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Repositorio Institucional – Biblioteca Digital