Breeding & Research

Innovation is one of the key drivers of motivation for all employees of De Ruiter Seeds. Having its strategy of being a product specialist working only on a limited number of crops, it is in the genes of our employees to excel in Breeding and Research. Almost 40% of De Ruiter Seeds employees works in the R&D department in state-of-the-art greenhouses and laboratories.

De Ruiter Seeds has the philosophy that full integration of conventional breeding and modern research technologies will bring better products sooner to the market place. Therefore, we have joint breeding and research centers throughout the world.

A strong focus on modern technologies is reflected by the fact that De Ruiter Seeds was one of the founders of KeyGene, one of the largest Biotechnology companies in the Netherlands. Keygenes proprietary AFLP marker technology is the molecular working horse for the company giving clear insights in the relation between genotype and phenotype.

Although marker-assisted breeding is an interesting tool for the breeders to improve the quality of the breeding process, other disciplines are also essential to breed for improved varieties.

For every challenge in breeding a specific combination of disciplines is required to reach our goals: the best hybrids giving added value to plant raisers, growers, whole salers, supermarkets and consumers.

Organisation

The R&D Management strongly believes in short lines between all players in hybrid development and introduction. This allows us to maintain a strong innovative drive, coupled to quick adaptation to market changes. Strong self-steering breeding/research/marketing teams are therefore at the centre of product development.

Breeding

Breeding for the heated crops is performed at our headquarters in Bergschenhoek (Netherlands) where 7 hectares of greenhouse space is available for breeding.
Breeding for Mediterranean crops is done at our site in El Ejido (Spain) where 10 hectares of greenhouse space is used for the breeding of pepper (sweet and hot), tomato, cucumber (long and short), melon and aubergine.Breeding for land climates is done in St. Andiol (France) in the heart of the Charantais melon growing area. Here is the centre of Charentais and Cantaloupe melon breeding, but the station also strongly supports the breeding of all other crops of De Ruiter Seeds.Breeding for innovative product traits (e.g. high in compounds with proven health claims), open field and harsh environmental selection is done in our state of the art facilities in the middle east. Breeding is further supported by satellite breeding stations in Hungary, Turkey, and Mexico.

Research

Research is structured in 4 disciplines:

Molecular Breeding
This group focuses on innovative solutions to strengthen the breeding process. Several types of molecular markers are used to reveal how genes and its alleles relate to the expression of phenotypes in the life cycle of a plant. The principle of breeding is to select for a desired set of specific genes/alleles, which gives a hybrid variety its characteristic performance in relation to environmental conditions. The major challenge of the molecular breeding group is to develop and implement tools that speed up the detection of the optimal combination of genes/alleles. Obviously this is done in close collaboration with the breeders.

Phytopathology & Microbiology
Resistance breeding has always been one of the strong points of the company. For several new combinations of traits, De Ruiter Seeds was the first to bring it to the market place. The ambition of the group is to identify and make available new sources of resistances to pathogens, viruses and pests, as well as the tools to select for them. The ultimate goal is to deliver hybrids for an essentially pesticide free cultivation.

Plant Biotechnology & Biochemistry
Genetic variation is the start of the breeding process. The group develops tools that leads to broadening the genetic base of our product development pipeline. Furthermore speed-to-market is one of the key drivers for success. Improving the cycle from seed to seed by using biotechnological tools is one of the challenges of this group.

As a company we try to deliver a product that serves all players in the value chain. However, some traits like taste and shelf life, and taste and yield are potentially in conflict with each other. Moreover, consumers� demand vastly differs throughout the world. The Biochemistry team develops the tools that allow us to solve this conflict, and allow us to creates products that serves the needs of all our customers.

Seed Technology & Physiology

Seed is the final product going to our clients. It harbours all the traits for the clients in the value chain. The quality of the seed should reflect the quality of the plant within it. The Seed Technology & Physiology group focuses on tools that give the Production and Logistics department the possibilities to produce high quality seed for plant raisers and growers.