Madeinplant, a biotechnology-based startup incubated by the AgrotecUV business incubator, and the Miguel Hernández University (UMH) have signed an agreement to introduce technological innovations in the traditional Muchamiel and Pear tomato varieties. Specifically, the Madeinplant and UMH team will generate variants of color and nutritional composition while preserving all the characteristics of production, shape and size of fruit and fleshiness that characterize these varieties so appreciated locally.
"In this way, the grower will be able to offer a wider range of diversity using the same growing conditions and practices he is used to with traditional varieties. On the other hand, consumers can benefit from tomatoes with a diversity of colors and nutritional composition in their favorite variety," says Antoni Granell, founding partner of Madeinplant and scientific researcher at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Plants (IBMCP, CSIC-UPV).
Madeinplant is a company in the agrobiotechnology sector that has its own technology that allows it to introduce targeted changes in different crops through new genomic techniques (NGT) while maintaining the rest of the characteristics of traditional varieties.
On the other hand, the Agricultural Biodiversity and Varietal Breeding group of the Polytechnic School of Orihuela of the UMH, led by Juan José Ruiz and Santiago García, has been working for years with traditional varieties of the orchard area of Alicante and the Vega Baja, such as the Muchamiel and Pear varieties.
Virus resistant tomatoes
"Now, with this new project, starting from these traditional resistant varieties, we intend to obtain others that maintain the taste quality and have improved nutritional compositions, as well as a striking range of colors, all of them characteristics highly demanded by the current market," concludes Santiago Garcia, from the group of Agricultural Biodiversity and Varietal Breeding of EPSO-UMH.
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The Center for Biomedical Research Network (CIBER) is a public consortium created to promote research excellence in biomedicine and health sciences. The CIBER works in various areas of health research, promoting collaboration and innovation.
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INCLIVA is a leading research institute affiliated with the University of Valencia, dedicated to advancing biomedical research and translating discoveries into clinical practice. INCLIVA supports a wide range of research projects aimed at improving patient outcomes and healthcare delivery.