Southern D’Light was announced last Thursday, February 16, on the Field Day of the Fruit Technological Consortium's Table Grape Genetic Improvement Program.
This 100% Chilean red grape was created thanks to the joint work of the Fruit Technology Consortium, ASOEX, the fruit industry, the Catholic University of Chile, and Corfo. "It is an early table grape with a very well-defined and unique red color. It is also a very crunchy variety; as eating it is like eating an apple. It also has a long post-harvest life and great productivity,” stated the director of the Consortium's Table Grape Genetic Improvement Program, Dr. Patricio Arce, who is also a researcher and academic at the Catholic University of Chile.
At the Field Day, the fertility and quality characteristics of Southern D’Light were analyzed at the North Eagle Experimental Station, Gesex RM. Southern D'Light grapes that were harvested weeks earlier were also showcased in Llay-Llay, Chacabuco, and Curacaví. Researchers also presented other outstanding selections in evaluation, both in Aguila Norte and in the Curacavi Station.
“We are very satisfied with this variety because it is the result of hard and long multidisciplinary work. It's Chile's first red variety and the first red variety developed by this program. We've been visited by many people, including from breeding programs in other parts of the world, and they've all concluded that it's an excellent variety.”
The director stressed that they had defined the characteristics of this new table grape together with the industry.
Source: simfruit.cl