The Campo Vegetable Biotechnology Center is a national private-equity company thatwas founded in 1991 in the Brazilian city of Paracatu, in the State of Minas Gerais, withthe goal of offering to Brazilian farmers high quality seedlings that could meet thecompetitive quality standards of national and international markets. The Centercontributes to the strengthening of sustainable agriculture from a social, economic, andenvironmental perspective, through the use of modern biotechnology tools.
In 1998, upon invitation by EMBRAPA – The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, the Center entered into a partnership, and, jointly with the “Bahia Agriculture and Livestock Development Company – EBDA”, the Center’s first subsidiary was created. The “Biofactory”, as it was called, was established in Cruz das Almas, in the State of Bahia. A technical cooperation contract with “Embrapa Cassava and Fruticulture” gave validity and enabled access to the technology developed by EMBRAPA for the production of new banana and pineapple hybrids that are resistant to the most common pests and diseases to affect these two crops in Brazil.
The Vegetable Biotechnology Center provides all the necessary information
to harden-off seedlings for outdoor planting.
Campo’s Vegetable Biotechnology Center offers an After Sales Technical Assistance Service, which farmers may acquire when purchasing seedlings. Campo’s technical team performs this service, which basically consists of monitoring seedling growth from the moment that the seedlings are delivered to the nursery up until the first harvest, thus ensuring the success of the farmers’ investment.
The seedlings are grown under controlled conditions, such as temperature, humidity, luminosity, and radiation, by micro propagation through the induction of in vitro multiplication cycles, from meristematic tissue extracted from the mother plants, which are rigorously selected and tested for viruses.
Seleção dentro do subgrupo “Cavendish”, também conhecida como “Banana d água”, apresentam frutos delgados, longos, encurvados, de cor amarelo-esverdeado ao amadurecer, com polpa muito doce e que são usados na exportação. Possui tolerância ao mal-do-Panamá.
A mais nobre para os brasileiros apresenta casca mais fina e polpa clara e suave, que lembra a maçã. Alcança excelentes preços no mercado. Susceptível ao mal-do-Panamá.
Gerado na Embrapa Mandioca e Fruticultura é híbrido tetraploide (AAAB), resultante da bananeira diploide M53 (AA) e a cultivar triploideYangambi n° 2 (AAB). Apresenta a maioria das suas características, tanto de desenvolvimento quanto de produtividade, semelhantes a cultivar “Maçã”, sua concorrente direta. Possui a vantagem de ser tolerante ao mal-do-Panamá, além de manter a resistência à Sigatoka-amarela presente na ‘”Maçã”.
Híbrido tetraploide (AAAB), gerado na Embrapa Mandioca e Fruticultura, resultante do cruzamento da variedade “Yangambi n° 2” com o diploide (AA)M53. Apresenta características, tanto no desenvolvimento quanto no rendimento, semelhantes às da cultivar “Maçã”. Resistente a Sigatoka-amarela e tolerante ao mal-do-Panamá.