Several researchers from the Banat Agricultural Sciences University in Timişoara, in western Romania, are working to develop a large, tasty tomato after gathering hundreds of varieties from local farmers.

Over 300 tomato varieties have been gathered so far from farmers in western and northern Romania in a project that started in 2012, Radu Şumălan, a professor at the university, told Mediafax.

The team of the project, headed by Şumălan, has been working on tomato hybrids in order to come up with the “perfect tomato,” which is tasty, large and productive.

“We only use local populations and old Romanian varieties we have been collecting since 2012 […] We created a gene pool, where we have over 300 varieties. Starting with 2014 we started with the hybridization […] One of the characteristics we had in mind with these hybrids was the taste. And the taste of these tomatoes is extraordinary,” he told Mediafax.

So far, tens of new varieties have been created and five of them were submitted for official approval.

“The Romanian peasant is one of the best improvers because they will always take seeds for a productive, tasty and healthy tomato and they will do this every year,” Şumălan explained

He hopes to receive the approval - a process that lasts at least two years - for the new varieties this fall. After this the tomatoes could reach local buyers.

The new varieties were obtained from the hybridization of old Romanian varieties. No chemical fertilizers were used, only manure.

“We want to have the perfect tomato; perfect doesn’t exist but we aspire towards it. The perfect tomato needs to be tasty, to be tolerant to disease and pests, so as to have no need to treat them, or treat them as little as possible. We are not looking for a tomato that can be kept for two months in the fridge. We already have these tomatoes, but they are not perfect. They can be improved,” he explained.

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editor@romania-insider.com