One year of TRADITOM: Older and wiser
Following the official project start in March 2015, all TRADITOM partners have taken significant initial steps towards the realisation of the project’s objectives.
Within year one, partners have put together the largest collection of European traditional tomato varieties by requesting seeds from seed banks, research laboratories and farmers associations. The initial aim of 1.200 varieties has been more than accomplished: The current collection exceeds 1.500 different varieties. Passport data referring to the regions of cultivation has been collected and a website repository of information and materials is being established.
In addition, the research activities produced first insights on the extent of the phenotypic and genotypic variability available. The information that has been gained is valuable for many different applications ranging from variety protection, detection of duplicated varieties, assessing how similar or diverse two varieties are in terms of phenotype or genotype.
One year into the project, the first steps to define the TRADITOM core collection have been made. An improved set of health and flavour metabolites is being finalized and will be used to define the varieties in the core collection that will represent different combinations of those metabolites and eventually are preferred by different types of consumers. In addition, large numbers of varieties and breeding lines are currently under evaluation in close collaboration between academic and industrial partners. This will enable us to identify the best materials and crosses to increase the resilience of traditional tomatoes while maintaining their traditional flavour.
Being a multi-actor project, TRADITOM has established intensive and active cooperation between farmers and scientists as a rule. Besides their research activities, the partners have taken part in international conferences, workshops or local food fairs to share the vision and mission of the TRADITOM project with key stakeholders and the public.
Tags: Horizon 2020