Under the trade name of Tutti, the first apple adapted to hot climates is the result of Hot Climate Partnership (HCP), a variety improvement program initiated in 2002 by the IRTA, an association of the main apple and pear producers in Catalonia, and a New Zealand research center.
Red, sweet, crunchy and juicy, the HOT84A1 variety was presented to the world on February 9 at the Fruit Logistica international fair in Berlin. It is the result of more than twenty years of work and it is the first registered seed fruit variety that has emerged from the HCP.
The objective of the HCP is to produce new varieties "more adapted to increasingly hot summers, and that satisfy the needs of producers, marketers and consumers," he explains. Joan Bonany, specialist of the IRTA Fruit Growing program.
The new variety has been evaluated in the IRTA experimental fields in Mollerussa (Lleida) and in La Tallada del Empordà (Girona), where temperatures can reach more than 40ºC in summer. Apart from the Tutti, the HCP has a range of apple and pear varieties in the pre-commercial phase, which once they hit the market "will cover a very wide range of harvest times and types of fruit," adds Bonany.
The HCP has also been presented at the international fair in Berlin. Created in 2002, it arose as a result of the demand of the Catalan fruit producing sector that, due to the climatic conditions in our area, the apple and pear varieties had more difficulties in reaching optimal quality in terms of colour, texture and flavor. scent. The HCP is made up of IRTA, Plant & Food Research, a public research center in New Zealand, FruitFutur ―an association of the main fruit producing companies in Catalonia: Nufri, Actel, Fruits de Ponent and IGP Poma de Girona )― , which will lead the marketing of the new variety in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), and the company VentureFruit, which will be in charge of marketing this and new varieties in the rest of the world.
