GENKI sets new standard for marrowfat pea growers

The new marrowfat pea variety GENKI is not only the highest yielding marrowfat variety on the 2007 Recommended List, but it also brings to the market agronomic strengths that mean it will be cheaper and easier to grow, making it very much a ‘farmers’ variety.

Newly added to the PGRO/NIAB Recommended List, Genki (which is Japanese for Healthy) comes on to the list as the highest yielding marrowfat variety. Combining quality, high yield and most importantly the ability to stay standing for ease of harvest, GENKI finally provides the breakthrough that marrowfat growers have been looking for.

Until now, marrowfats have been the poor relation to large blue types in terms of yield, but now the gap has closed and with a five year mean of 93%, Genki is similar in yield to the large blue benchmark variety Nitouche, and some 7% higher yielding than Princess and Kabuki.

Bred by the specialist pea breeder, Toft, in Denmark and marketed in the UK by Dalton Seeds, Genki produces a big smooth skinned marrowfat pea that is similar in quality to Princess, and is suitable for mushy peas production, which has been the traditional market for Princess.

Agronomically Genki performs extremely well compared to other marrowfats. As can be seen from the table below its key strength is its superb standing power, which at 8 makes Genki the strongest standing of any variety on the Recommended List for a quick and easy harvest.

Genki is resistant to Pea Wilt and has a 6 rating for Downy Mildew, which is the highest rating ever for a marrowfat variety, and compares to only 4 for Princess and 5 for Kahuna. As a result, growers in most situations should be able to dispense with needing to use a premium seed treatment, which will be necessary for other marrowfats.

Source: Based on the 2007 NIAB/PGRO UK Recommended List

Genki will be available in limited quantities for sowing this spring through Dalton Seeds.

 For the full NIAB/PGRO UK Recommended List 2007 : www.pgro.org/index.shtml