UF scientists produced three new breeding lines of tomatoes as result of a more than $2 million, 25-year project.
Scientists at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Balm, Florida, produced these virus-resistant tomatoes.
The UF/IFAS Cultivar Release Committee partnered with the Florida Foundation Seed Producers, Inc. to approve the three breeding lines Oct. 22.
John Scott, professor of horticultural sciences and tomato breeder at the center, said these new virus-resistant lines will eventually help farmers protect their crop against the tomato yellow leaf curl virus, which is transmitted by whiteflies and can cause total crop loss for farmers.
“These tomatoes give breeders better options to breed more durable resistance, which will make it harder for the virus to mutate against,” Scott said.
The researchers screened about 15,000 plants, taking tissue and DNA from each, to produce these three lines, Scott said.
Assistant professor of horticultural sciences and tomato breeder Samuel Hutton, who worked with Scott on the study, said the virus is the biggest disease impacting Florida tomatoes.
“Ideally, company breeders will use these breeding lines as parents to develop finished varieties that will go to the market,” Horton said.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 11/13/2014]
