This year is a first for the Europlant varieties Jelly & Donata in Libyan soil. Let’s find out a little bit more about them:
Dual purpose
Both varieties have the advantage of being dual purpose: they make for excellent table potatoes as well as tasty French fries. This creates extra possibilities for farmers in selling their produce. Farmers can cut their risks by agreeing at the start of the season on a fixed price for (a part of) their crop with French fries producers. This way the factory owner can guarantee a steady, dependable influx for his factory. And at the same time farmers create more financial certainty for themselves because they have the assurance early on that they will be able to sell (a part of) their produce, thus creating a window for long term.
Crunchy bite
In Libya most French fries are made with Spunta, but this potato, being a classic table potato, relatively high in water content and not specifically suited for deep frying, doesn’t create the crunchy bite chips lovers so desire.
A good chip potato needs the right amount of starchiness: too little starchiness as well as a relatively high content in water will make the French fries lack in crunchiness, whereas too much starchiness will turn the fries brown before they are cooked through. In breeding Jelly and Donata Europlant have managed to strike the right balance with regard to starchiness and dry matter content, making for tasty French fries with a crispy crunch.
Jelly
Jelly: a big saver on Nitrogen, with robust foliage
A big plus for Jelly is that is needs a lot less Nitrogen in comparison with for example Spunta. At least 20% Nitrogen can be omitted during the growing season, and quite likely even more, thus saving production costs.
Jelly’s foliage is impressive and very strong, so farmers can rest assured that less N will not in any way harm a good haulm development; in fact, if a ‘regular’ dose of N would be applied, this would be lost in excess foliage instead of bigger tubers. Also applying less N will result in a better dry matter content, and earlier maturity.
To keep Jelly’s haulm in good shape, protective control of late blight (Phytophtora) within the usual spraying program is recommended. Jelly’s resistance to both foliage and tuber blight is high. Jelly is slightly sensitive to early blight (Alternaria), so it is advised to start protection at 30 days after emergence.
Jelly: worth the wait, and an excellent keeper
Good things come to those who wait: Jelly is middle late and needs 135-140 days to reach full maturity. This makes Jelly ideal for early planting. At 100 days the tubers are still oval, but in the next 10 to 40 days the tubers will develop their long oval shape. Haulm killing is best done at around 20 to 30 days after that of Spunta. Earlier maturity can be achieved as mentioned above by applying less Nitrogen: at least 20% less.
Once harvested, Jelly is an excellent keeper in storage. Even under not ideal storage conditions, Jelly can keep up to at least 6 months without losing its taste & shape, while maintaining a stable sugar level needed for processing.
Click here for more information about Jelly
Donata
Donata: beautiful building blocks for the French fries industry
Created specifically for the French fries market, Donata possesses a beautifully smooth yellow skin and great taste. It is also a very high yielding variety. Its shape is long oval, and once fully mature the potatoes bear resemblance to chunky building blocks or bricks, making them perfect for processing into long French fries.
Donata: long lasting dependability & quality
As French fries producer need a year-round steady influx of fresh, good quality produce, good storability is of the essence. Donata keeps excellently in storage, in fact even a bit longer than Jelly, to up to around 10 months! Its sugar levels are very stable and stay low during storage, guaranteeing long lasting suitability for processing.