New Varieties of Yellow and Orange Peppers

after its market success with growing red peppers of the canon variety zeraim gedera ltd can now offer growers two new pepper varieties, yellow and orange, named shir and jordan, respectively. 

  arnon lahav, an experienced grower who is zeraim gedera’s sales manager for the southern arava region predicts a bright future for these two new varieties of peppers.  these especially attractive varieties owe their development to cooperation between zeraim gedera ltd and the faculty of agriculture at the hebrew university of jerusalem at rehovot.    

development procedure and careful screening

  the shir and jordan varieties are a welcome addition to zeraim gedera’s extensive existing range of pepper varieties and lahav explains in detail the process by which the new peppers are developed commercially.  

  after initially narrowing down some two hundred potential varieties over three years a limited number of winning varieties are chosen as possible new peppers. the desired qualities which make the pepper ideal for expert breeders  and growers alike are resistance to the arava’s extreme weather conditions, their durability and a large export market. lahav is confident that the excellent quality of shir and jordan should lead to a significant expansion of the areas in the arava planted with yellow and orange peppers.

an economic safety net

   yogev klein, the sales manager for zeraim gedera ltd. in the northern arava and a trained agronomist who monitored the new varieties during the trial stages last season claims that these new varieties were developed specifically to withstand extreme conditions and their consequent good yields provide an economic safety net for the growers.
   the jordan pepper has a very strong plant growth, ripens to produce a high yield of “blocky”, large, massive fruit that is most suitable for export to europe, russia as well as for marketing in israel. 
  the yellow shir variety is also noted for strong plant growth and presents fewer horticultural problems for the farmer thereby saving significantly on labor costs during the growing period and at harvest time. the plant’s vigorous foliage maintains the peppers’ quality also at the season’s end.  the fruit of these two varieties has the same shelf life and preservation capability after picking as other orange and yellow peppers.
   the next season (2014-5) for growing the shir and jordan varieties shall begin shortly and controlled trials indicate that they will be ready for semi-commercial marketing.  initially the seeds will be marketed at half the regular price to encourage the growers to try them out, and only during the following season will they be sold at the full price.