Known-You Seed celebrates its 50th anniversary

The biggest seed company in Taiwan is celebrating its 50th anniversary on December 7 in Kaohsiung county where it was founded by Wun-Yu Chen in 1968. The company has contributed much to the growth of the vegetable industry in the Philippines, introducing hybrid seeds that are not only high-yielding but also prized for other desirable characteristics like resistance to pests and diseases, good shipping quality and others.

Known-You which has been a long-time advertiser in Agriculture Magazine published by Manila Bulletin has invited the staff of the monthly magazine to attend the special occasion.

Serious commercial introduction of Known-You varieties in the Philippines was undertaken by Harbest Agribusiness headed by Arsenio “Toto” Barcelona which continues to this day. In fact, a joint venture with Barcelona has given rise to the establishment of Known-You Seed Philippines in 2011. The joint venture company undertakes field testing of new varieties to find out their adaptability under Philippine conditions.

Many Filipino farmers have become rich by growing vegetables and other high-value crops developed by KnownYou. Among the favorite of farmers are the watermelons that include Diana, Buffalo, Dragon, Jill Apple melon and many others. Researchers in Taiwan are continually producing new varieties. Among the new watermelon varieties are Eclipse with dark green skin and yellow flesh, high fruit setting, good eating quality and can be grown any month of theyear; Goldfinch is a seedless hybrid with striped skin and yellow flesh; Obsidian, another seedless hybrid with dark skin and red flesh, high-yielding and with good shipping quality.

Known-You also develops outstanding melon varieties. Among the new ones are Silver Dream, a honey dew melon with whitish green flesh, a vigorous plant with uniform fruit weighing 2 to 3 kilos each; Orange Melody, with orange flesh with aroma, high-yielding and easy to grow; Yuki Lady, a honey dew with whitish green flesh, vigorous plant and good fruit setting; Joyride, a melon with light orange flesh, 2-2.5 kg per fruit; Rumba, netted melon with orange flesh, heat and shipping tolerant; Puma, a yellow canary-colored melon with white flesh.

Other high-value crops are sweet corn, eggplant, ampalaya, pumpkins, okra, cucumber, lettuce, cauliflower, and many more. Here are some of the newly developed varieties.

Tusk is a new cucumber hybrid, dark green with good tolerance to disease and high-yielding; Viking is a slicer variety, each fruit weighing 200 gams, also with good disease tolerance; Gorgeous is a big cucumber, each fruit weighing 400 grams, harvestable in 48 days from planting, good fruit quality; Thumb Sweet is a mini cucumber, each fruit weighing 50 grams, harvestable in 38 days from planting, fruits crispy and tasty; Lightning has glossy skin, crispy and tasty; Sinbad has oak green skin, each fruit 120 grams.

Known-You has newly released pumpkins. These include Nana, butternut type that is early maturing with uniform fruit; Smoothie has light brown rind and yellow flesh. Matures in 95 days; Bell is a small variety weighing 1.4 kg each, uniform fruit; Ishtar has brown rind with spots, heat tolerant, vigorous and productive.

Known-You has six new ampalaya hybrids. These are Daphne, which has glossy skin, early and good for shipping; Jaden has fruits weighing 600 to 700 grams each, early maturing, vigorous, crispy and firm fruit; Enchant has warty pebbly skin, harvestable 60 days after planting, vigorous and crispy; Crescent has light green skin, slender, has excellent shipping quality; Rococo is a white, apple type fruit; Fiona has green apple type fruits, 400 to 450 grams each.

Known-You has 9 new hybrid tomatoes. These include Margaret, Jab, Timurid, Rosaline, Jiumil, Darlene, Sun Jewel, Allure and Dazzling. These include cherry varieties and the traditional varieties with bigger fruits. Known-You also has new sweet as well as hot peppers. These bell peppers include Apollo Star, Titan, Venus, Carmen, Boost, Jala-Babe, Salvo and Canary.

New eggplant varieties include Willy with black purple fruits, each weighing 230 grams. Has glossy skin, good shipping quality and long shelf life; Sapphire has black purple fruits, 180 grams each, matures in 72 days, with good shipping quality and long shelf life; Peeress has purple color weighing 420 grams each; and Fiancee with striped purple skin, 160 grams each, early and good fruit setting.

There are two new okra varieties. One is Candle Fire which is red in color, a winner in the All America Selections (AAS). The other new variety is Liv, fruit with five idges. Tolerant to virus and is high-yielding.

NEW SWEET PEPPER – This is Apollo Star, a new bell pepper hybrid recently released by Known-You Seed. The fruit starts as green and then turns yellow when ripe. It has very thick flesh and good fruit quality.

NEW HOT PANGSIGANG – This is Zesy, a new hot pepper with creamy yellow fruit that turns red CANARY HOT PEPPER – This is green when not ripe but burns canary when ripe. It is very hot. yellow when ripe. It is very hot.

NEW WATERMELON – This is the Fairie, a newly developed variety weighing about 3 kg per fruit. It has yellow rind with rosy red flesh.