New onion variety reaches international advanced level in Handan

According to the Handan City Vegetable Research Institute in Hebei Province, the achievement of “the breeding of ‘Zijiao No. 2’, a first-generation hybrid purple-skinned onion variety with stress resistance and storability” formed under the Hebei Provincial Science and Technology Support Program undertaken by the institute, has been appraised by the provincial expert panel as having reached the international advanced level.

This variety has a growth period of about 270 days. The bulb is nearly spherical, with a horizontal diameter of 9 cm to 10 cm and a vertical diameter of 8 cm to 9 cm. The outer skin is deep purplish red with a bright luster, and the quality is crisp and tender. Field testing showed an average single bulb weight of 408 g, a 27.5% increase in yield compared with the control variety “New Red Star”.

The expert panel unanimously agreed that this achievement is innovative in aspects such as onion germplasm resource creation and variety breeding; the bred variety “Zijiao No. 2” has outstanding excellent traits, good marketability and broad application prospects, and they unanimously agreed that this research has reached the international advanced level.