June 19, 2019

Consumer friendly plants

The most important goal achieved by Queen® Genetics is the creation of ethylene tolerant plants. Since the gas - ethylene - is responsible for wilting of flowers this has been the key goal, and when successful, a major step forward for the breeders.

 

"We have been focusing on ethylene for more than 15 years. It takes a lot of small steps and a long time to reach these results, but we succeeded and because of that we have turned the entire breeding procedure upside down. The first thing we do is to check for ethylene tolerance. If the result is negative, the plant is discarded. We have thrown away thousands of plants, and this is why, we can now proudly say that our varieties are truly consumer friendly", explains Kai Lønne Nielsen, R&D Manager at Queen® Genetics. 

Today, most refining programmes focus on ensuring a long life of the flowers. However, supreme durability and consequently less waste in the shops along with an optimum experience for the customer are rather complex aspects, depending on the conditions the plant is exposed to on its way from the greenery to the consumer.

Ethyl is a well-known problem for many producers of potted plants. Kalanchoe is also sensible towards ethyl, for instance from exhaust gasses, spruce and maturing fruits. This is the reason why we work consistently on creating ethyl resistant species.

“We started testing the durability and the ethyl resistance of new flower species 15 years ago. During this period of time we have achieved remarkable results having prolonged the durability with at least 3-4 weeks, underlines plant breeder at Knud Jepsen a/s, Ellen Christensen.

Therefore, we wonder why we do not see more refining programmes that focus on ethyl resistance.

”Kalanchoe is a strong culture with a good image. However, a good image can quickly be destroyed by a bad experience. By marketing the species which are ethyl resistant we can improve the image of the culture, hoping that the rest of the industry will follow the trend. It will create less waste in the shops, the customers will be more satisfied and will buy again, which will be an advantage for everybody”, emphasizes Ellen Christensen.

The reason for ethyl resistance not having first priority in many refining programmes is probably due to the fact that this feature is not visible from the start.  It only appears when the flowers stand in the shops or at the customer’s place.

”It is a fact that many shops are not really suited for selling flowers. The flowers might be placed in the middle of the shop near fruit and vegetables where the amount of ethyl is particularly high. This leaves us with 3 possibilities: either we do not sell plants, we have to accept that they do not appear very appealing, or we adapt the product to the given environment. We have chosen the last option which is the reason for our high focus on both long life and ethyl resistance in our refining. In the future, only geno types with flowers demonstrating ethyl resistance will be selected for the refining programme”, continues Ellen Christensen, who is reassured that the focus of the company is correct when representatives from the retail business see the difference themselves between the appearance of the various flowers in the greenery’s life-test room.

”We have worked with this for many years, but it is still an eye-opener for us when the representative from the shop sees the results of our experiments and says spontaneously “This is exactly what we see in the shop” when he sees the difference between the ethyl resistant Queen® Genetics flowers and other species where the flowers soon fade, close and die”, says Ellen Christensen.

The extensive breeding programme of Queen® Genetics has led to many lines of kalanchoe. All the flowers are tested for durability and ethyl resistance before continuing to the next refining level.

Based on impartial analyses made by Nissen Consult we can guarantee that the Queen® Genetics will maintain their high ornamental value despite the influence of ethyl.  

Headquarter

Queen® Genetics
A/S Knud Jepsen
Skanderborgvej 193
DK-8382 Hinnerup
genetics@queen.dk

Office Hours:
7 a.m. – 4 p.m. CEST

Tel: +45 86 98 61 88
Fax: +45 86 98 61 99

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