New lettuce varieties offer resistance to INSV

Added on 17 February 2023

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New lettuce varieties offer resistance to INSV

Dutch vegetable seed company Rijk Zwaan, following years of breeding research, is launching two romaine lettuce varieties for the U.S. market with a resistance against the impatiens necrotic spot virus (INSV). These varieties are the first in the company’s INSV Defense line.

“We are excited that we can support lettuce growers and processing companies with this breakthrough. For them, this can make the difference between profit and loss,” say Johan Schut and Christophe Thomas from the Rijk Zwaan breeding team.

INSV, which is transmitted by the Western flower thrips, has been a serious problem over the last few years. The economic impact of the damage in 2020 alone was estimated at more than $100 million.

For the Rijk Zwaan team, the INSV Defense story began back in 2005, when they started working to find resistance against the tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV).

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