New adzuki bean variety Kaohsiung No. 10 Hongyu officially unveiled
Adzuki bean is an important coarse grain crop in southern Taiwan, China, with a current cultivation area of more than 5,500 hectares. It is mainly used for making fillings, pastries and other foods. The current mainstream variety is "Kaohsiung No. 9 - Red Treasure", bred in 1995 (the 95th year of the Republic of China) by the Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station (hereinafter referred to as Kaohsiung Station), which accounts for 70% of the total cultivation area. In order to improve the quality and yield of adzuki bean, Kaohsiung Station, after years of effort, has bred a new adzuki bean variety "Kaohsiung No. 10 - Red Jade" with extra-large grains, bright red color, high yield and suitability for mechanical harvesting, which will help enhance the competitiveness of domestically produced adzuki bean in the market.
The director of Kaohsiung Station pointed out that in order to improve the yield and processing quality of currently promoted adzuki bean varieties, Kaohsiung Station has continuously used cross-breeding methods for many years to carry out adzuki bean variety improvement work, and selected an excellent line "KA84-07-63". After more than 10 years of trials and evaluation, it passed review by experts and scholars on July 3, 2012 (the 101st year of the Republic of China), and was officially named adzuki bean "Kaohsiung No. 10", with the trade name "Red Jade". The advantages of this variety are: (1) Large grains and high yield. (2) Thin seed coat and bright red color. (3) Less severe thrips damage in the field, which can save control costs. (4) High pod-setting position, suitable for mechanical harvesting.
Assistant Researcher Chen Yuju of the Agronomy Research Laboratory at Kaohsiung Station further explained that because adzuki bean Kaohsiung No. 10 belongs to the extra-large grain type, its average 100-grain weight is above 21.5 grams, the seed coat is thin, there are few hard grains, and after cooking it is dense and smooth with good eating quality. In addition to being processed into bean paste, the whole grains can also be processed into various snack foods such as ganmodoki, sweetened red beans, red bean soup, etc. Its average grain yield per hectare is 21.0% higher than that of Kaohsiung No. 8 and 10.4% higher than that of Kaohsiung No. 9. Its agronomic characteristics are good, and it is very suitable for farmers to cultivate.
In accordance with the Plant Variety and Plant Seed Act, this variety will be submitted to the Council of Agriculture for application for plant variety rights, and will be licensed to the industry for propagation and use. It is expected that after promotion, it can effectively reduce production costs and improve processing quality. It is expected to be welcomed by bean farmers, processors and consumers, and will help the sustainable development of Taiwan, China's adzuki bean industry.
