February 2020 - 14

LEAFY GREENS
Moves Water and Chemicals
Into The Rootzone
PROVIDES Uniform Penetration and
Lateral Movement of Water
ENCOURAGES Improved Rooting and
Nutrient Uptake
ENHANCES Initial Wetting and
Subsequent Rewetting of Soils
IMPROVES Distribution and Eff ectiveness
of Soil Applied Chemicals
SAVES WATER - Reduces Irrigation
Requirements by Up To 25%
ESTABLISHES Healthier Plants with
Increased Yields!
USDA Red, the first true red spinach variety. Photo: Beiquan Mou
USDA debuts worldfirst
true red spinach
By Stephen Kloosterman
Associate Editor
Spinach leaves of a rosy hue stand to
shake up salad mixes in produce aisles
everywhere.
The USDA Agricultural Research
Offers Growers Effective and
Preventative Disease Control
STRONG EFFICACY on Oomycete (Water
Mold) Pathogens
HIGHLY SYSTEMIC - Extensive Mobility
Throughout the Plant
HIGHEST Available Concentration -
Eff ective at Low Rates
2 MODES OF ACTION
* Inhibits mycelial growth preventing
oxidative phosphorylation
* Stimulates the plants natural defense
mechanisms triggering SAR
Service (ARS) in December debuted " the
world's first true red spinach variety. " The
variety, called USDA Red, will likely be
commercialized by a seed company through
ARS' Office of Technology Transfer.
USDA hopes the new diversity could
help spinach sales, which have lagged since
a 2006 outbreak of E. coli-caused illnesses
were linked to California-grown spinach.
More than 204 people were sickened and
three died during the outbreak. U.S. Food
and Drug Administration advised against
eating bag spinach, and there were no U.S.
fresh spinach sales for five days.
Since the outbreak, Spinach
consumption in the U.S. has dropped to 1.6
pounds per person, down from 2.3 pounds
per person before the outbreak in 2006,
and has never recovered from the change.
Breeder Beiquan Mou said he hopes
the new variety could revive the
spinach market.
" I got just a tremendous response
from the growers, " he said. " I think the
demand, interest, is there. We are talking
to several seed companies. "
Although commercial companies
may be interested in licensing the
seed to create hybrid varieties, USDA
Red also can stand on its own, said
Mou, an ARS research geneticist Crop
Improvement and Protection Research
Unit in Salinas, California.
" It's not germplasm of a breeding line -
it's a finished variety, " he said.
USDA Red can be harvested as a
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Ask your Belchim representative for current registration status.
Integrate and ReLoad are registered trademarks of
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baby leaf or " teen " leaf in three or four
weeks, and grown to maturity over two
months for frozen or canned products.
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12 | VegetableGrowersNews.com
The leaves grow semi-flat, with
" spade-shaped " leaves with " roundpointed
tips, " according to the USDA's
announcement. The plant has moderate
resistance to bolting.
The red leaves in many mixes are
currently provided by red lettuce,
radicchio or chard, but a true-red spinach
leaf will give consumers a new and
perhaps more-desirable leaf to throw in
the mix. Spinach is, after all, prized for its
nutritional value, including beta-carotene
(provitamin A), lutein, folate, vitamin C,
calcium, iron, phosphorus and potassium.
" Not only does it look good, it has health
benefits, " Mou said.
Mou said the red color doesn't affect the
leaves' nutritional content, and on top of
that, USDA Red tastes great (He joked that it
should be called Red Delicious).
Other produce varieties have been
marketed as red spinaches, but the USDA
said these are actually red-leaf amaranths
or other plants like Red Goosefoot
(Blitum rubrum). Some true spinach
plants have a bit of red, but only along
the leaf veins - and it's with one of those
varieties, namely Bordeaux, that Mou
started his breeding work.
He conducted his natural, non-GMO
breeding process in about 100 small (5'x5')
isolated greenhouses. Raised in a controlled
environment, the plants were ventilated, and
were lighted to simulate the long days that
trigger flowering. Plants a little redder than
the rest were selected for crosses.
" It took us ten years, " Mou said. " Little by
little, the red accumulated. "
The red itself comes from the
betacyanin, an antioxidant. According to
the USDA's announcement, betacyanin
has been shown in scientific literature to
reduce oxidative stress in patients and
might help in preventing inflammation
and chronic medical conditions. The
antioxidant capacity of USDA Red was
42%-53% more than other spinach
cultivars in five tests conducted over
three years.
Mou said growers have told him they're
eager to try planting it.
" Hopefully, we can bring it to the
market as soon as possible, " he said. " This
is really just a breakthrough, but we don't
really have enough seeds for them right
now. " VGN
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February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2020
