Sakata Seed ventures into F1 seed strawberry business

In November, 2023, Sakata Seed Corporation will start an activity to commercialize F₁ seed strawberry varieties suitable for greenhouse cultivation in the near future.

Japanese strawberry varieties are highly praised internationally for their delicious flavor. However, Japanese strawberry varieties are also characterized by their softness, which creates issues in regard to shelf life and transportability. Furthermore, diseases that are likely to cause problems during cultivation vary by region. Sakata Seed Corporation began planning strawberry breeding in 2016 and started it in 2018. Our aim is to breed strawberry varieties which balance outstanding flavor unique to Japanese strawberries and transportability, and which possess disease resistance required in areas where they are grown. In 2017, Sakata Seed Corporation won the permission to sell seeds and seedlings of Yotsuboshi, an F₁ seed strawberry developed by Mie Prefecture, Kagawa Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture and Kyushu Okinawa Agricultural Research Center, and sold it mainly in Canada and the United States, gaining insight into the demand in each region.

Conventionally, many vegetative varieties of strawberries propagated from parent plants have been used around the world. However, vegetative propagation has the following issues: (1) effort required to

manage the parent plant and collect the young plants, (2) risk of disease infection from the parent plant, and (3) restrictions on the season of transplanting young plants. To solve these problems, Sakata Seed Corporation is working to develop F₁ seed strawberry varieties (ever bearing) that can be raised from seeds. We have already begun trial production on a global scale.

In order to further accelerate the movement toward commercialization, we have recently started an activity that unifies research, production, and sales. Our entire company will work toward the commercialization of our F₁ seed strawberry business.

Global potential of the Japanese strawberry

In Japan, strawberries are mainly eaten raw. New varieties are developed every year, and the flavor of Japanese strawberries is among the highest in the world. Statistics show that the export value of strawberries from Japan has rapidly increased from 1,798.53 million yen in 2017 to 5,241.63 million yen in 2022(*). Overseas demand for Japanese strawberries is expected to continue increasing in the future.

Continue reading.

Image by xb100 on Freepik

Source: