From Monsanto:

Timeless Flavor Gets Rediscovered With Seminis Summer Slice Watermelons

Thursday February 19, 2015

Dateline:

St. Louis

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"But it doesn’t stop here – they can expect a portfolio of future products that continue to deliver yield potential, great flavor and overall quality."

ST. LOUIS (February 19, 2015) — Seminis^® is proud to introduce the next generation of seedless watermelons. Branded Summer Slice™, the taste of these three super sweet watermelons will take you back to the memories of summers gone by.

“Consumer feedback has reinforced to us that the simple joys of summer are associated with the juicy, sweet taste of watermelons,” said Seminis Watermelon breeder Jerome Bernier. “With our three Summer Slice watermelon varieties, we are confident our farmer customers can help consumers rediscover that timeless watermelon flavor.”

The Summer Slice lineup includes Joy Ride, SV0241WA and SV0258WA. “Joy Ride is our newest addition to the Seminis watermelon pipeline,” explained Bernier. “It is highly-adaptable and suitable for growing across all regions of the U.S. and produces a large percentage of 36-count watermelon.”  Joy Ride offers a thick rind, firm fruit with uniform setting and has a vigorous plant type with good canopy coverage. Joy Ride has shown a high, industry-leading average Degrees Brix of 11.5 in trials¹.

SV0241WA is a 60-count watermelon hybrid with good yield potential and excellent interior quality. It is a vigorous plant type that provides outstanding coverage at harvest. The fruit are very uniform with small pips and vibrant red flesh color with exceptional firmness and sweet taste.

“Because SV0241WA is a little smaller than a traditional watermelon, this type of watermelon is going to become more popular as people are looking for something more convenient that takes up less space in the refrigerator,” explained Bernier, who primarily breeds for seedless watermelon varieties for the United States and Mexico.

SV0258WA is an ideal watermelon hybrid variety for growing in the Western and Midwestern U.S. due to its early maturity, good yield potential and Brix content. This hybrid has vigorous plant type and strong canopy to help protect the fruit from sunburn and produces consistent fruit uniformity across the field.

“It is exciting to know that after a strong commitment to breeding and testing, we have a lot to offer watermelon growers,” added Bernier. “But it doesn’t stop here – they can expect a portfolio of future products that continue to deliver yield potential, great flavor and overall quality.”

About Monsanto Vegetable Seeds Division

Monsanto Company’s Vegetable Seeds Division is focused on innovation to improve the quality and productivity of vegetables grown from our seeds. The company develops products intended to offer new, healthy choices for consumers. Monsanto invests in research and development and uses the latest technology not only to deliver the best products to the consumer, but also to provide yield and value to the customer, the grower, and to their customers, the chain partners. Monsanto’s Vegetable Seeds Division is represented through Seminis^® and De Ruiter^® seed brands. For more information about Seminis^®, visit www.seminis-us.com/

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¹In trials conducted in Clay ton, NC, Blackville, SC, and Tifton, GA in 2014.

Individual results may vary, and performance may vary from location to location and from year to year. This result may not be an indicator of results you may obtain as local growing, soil and weather conditions may vary. Growers should evaluate data from multiple locations and years whenever possible.

Monsanto and Vine Design® is a registered trademark of Monsanto Technology LLC. Seminis® and SummerSlice™ are trademarks of Seminis Vegetable Seeds, Inc. De Ruiter® is a registered trademark of Monsanto Invest B.V. ©2015 Seminis Vegetable Seeds, Inc.