Swedes potential
Swedes potential
ARE swedes set for a comeback in Scotland? According to breeders at the Scottish Crop Research Institute, Dundee, they could be.
Although the area grown for human consumption fell last year, three new varieties from an SCRI/ Sharpes International programme could reverse the trend. Supermarket interest in the vegetable, partly because of its long shelf life, could also help, adds Sharpes Martin Titley.
New culinary swede Brora has dark purple skin, yellow flesh and good flavour. It yielded 77t/ha of marketable roots in SCRI trials, compared with 57t/ha for established variety Magres. Brora will be widely available for 1998, with Virtue, another culinary swede following in 1999.
lMeanwhile, Invitation is the first forage swede to offer clubroot resist-ance. As well as providing livestock fodder, its good flavour means it can also be marketed as a culinary swede late. *