Kiwifruit or Chinese gooseberry is the edible berry of several species of woody vines in the genus Actinidia. The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit is oval, about the size of a large hen's egg: 5–8 centimetres in length and 4.5–5.5 cm in diameter. It has a thin, fuzzy, fibrous, tart but edible light brown skin and light green or golden flesh with rows of tiny, black, edible seeds. The fruit has a soft texture with a sweet and unique flavour.
The potato is a starchy root vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are tubers of the plant Solanum tuberosum, a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young shoots and leaves are sometimes eaten as greens. Cultivars of the sweet potato have been bred to bear tubers with flesh and skin of various colors. Sweet potato is only distantly related to the common potato, both being in the order Solanales. Although darker sweet potatoes are often referred to as "yams" in parts of North America, the species is not a true yam, which are monocots in the order Dioscoreales.
The avocado is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated in Mesoamerica more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for its large and unusually oily fruit. The tree likely originated in the highlands bridging south-central Mexico and Guatemala. Its fruit, sometimes also referred to as an alligator pear or avocado pear, is botanically a large berry containing a single large seed. Sequencing of its genome showed that the evolution of avocados was shaped by polyploidy events and that commercial varieties have an hybrid origin. Avocado trees are partly self-pollinating, and are often propagated through grafting to maintain consistent fruit output. Avocados are presently cultivated in the tropical and Mediterranean climates of many countries. Mexico is the world's leading producer of avocados as of 2020, supplying nearly 30% of the global harvest in that year.
Cortland is a cultivar of apple developed at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York, United States in 1898. The apple was named after nearby Cortland County, New York. It is among the fifteen most popular in the United States and Canada.
Russet Burbank is a potato cultivar with dark brown skin and few eyes that is the most widely grown potato in North America. A russet type, its flesh is white, dry, and mealy, and it is good for baking, mashing, and french fries (chips). It is a common and popular potato.
Yellow Finn is a potato cultivar. Its origin is sourced to Europe. It is medium-sized with yellow flesh and skin that varies from white to yellow.
Red Gold potato is an early variety of North American potato. It has a red skin with yellow flesh inside. It is resistant to potato leafroll virus and potato virus Y and moderately resistant to common scab, but is susceptible to potato virus A and potato virus S.
The Vivaldi potato is a cultivar of potato bred by HZPC, in the Netherlands, and then passed to 'Naturally Best', based in Lincolnshire, England, who promoted and distributed the potato in the UK.
The University of Guelph is a comprehensive public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald Institute (1903), and the Ontario Veterinary College (1922), and has since grown to an institution of almost 30,000 students and employs 830 full-time faculty as of fall 2019. It offers 94 undergraduate degrees, 48 graduate programs, and 6 associate degrees in many different disciplines.
The tomato is the edible berry of the plant Solanum lycopersicum, commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Nahuatl word tomatl gave rise to the Spanish word tomate, from which the English word tomato derives. Its domestication and use as a cultivated food may have originated with the indigenous peoples of Mexico. The Aztecs used tomatoes in their cooking at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, and after the Spanish encountered the tomato for the first time after their contact with the Aztecs, they brought the plant to Europe, in a widespread transfer of plants known as the Columbian exchange. From there, the tomato was introduced to other parts of the European-colonized world during the 16th century.
Helminthosporium solani is a fungal plant pathogen responsible for the plant disease known as silver scurf. Silver scurf is a blemish disease, meaning the effect it has on tubers is mostly cosmetic and affects "fresh market, processing and seed tuber potatoes." There are some reports of it affecting development, meaning growth and tuber yield. This is caused by light brown lesions, which in turn change the permeability of tuber skin and then it causes tuber shrinkage and water loss, which finally causes weight loss. The disease has become economically important because silver scurf affected potatoes for processing and direct consumption have been rejected by the industry. The disease cycle can be divided into two stages: field and storage. It is mainly a seed borne disease and the primary source of inoculum is mainly infected potato seed tubers. Symptoms develop and worsen in storage because the conditions are conducive to sporulation. The ideal conditions for the spread of this disease are high temperatures and high humidity. There are also many cultural practices that favor spread and development. There are multiple ways to help control the disease.
Adirondack Red is a potato variety with red flesh and skin, bred by Cornell University potato breeders Robert Plaisted, Ken Paddock and Walter De Jong, and released in 2004.
A fingerling potato is a small, stubby, finger-shaped type of potato which may be any heritage potato cultivars. Fingerlings are varieties that naturally grow small and narrow. They are fully mature when harvested and are not to be confused with new potatoes. Popular fingerling potatoes include the yellow-skinned Russian Banana, the pink-skinned, yellow fleshed French Fingerling, the Purple Peruvian, and the Swedish Peanut Fingerling. Due to their size and greater expense compared to other potatoes, fingerlings are commonly either halved and roasted as a side dish or used in salads.
Bintje is a middle-early ripening potato variety bred in the Netherlands by the Frisian schoolmaster K.L. de Vries in 1904 from and marketed for the first time in 1910. The name of the potato, a diminutive of Benedict, was borrowed from one of his former students.
Melody is a cultivar of potato.
Lenape (B5141-6) is a potato cultivar first released in 1967 and named after the Lenape Native American tribe, which had to be pulled from the market in 1970 after findings of its high glycoalkaloid content. It was bred by Wilford Mills of Pennsylvania State University in collaboration with the Wise Potato Chip Company. The Lenape potato was produced by crossing Delta Gold with a wild Peruvian potato known for its resistance to insects. It was selected for its high specific gravity and low sugar content which made it ideal for producing potato chips but it was also immune to potato virus A and resistant to common strains of late blight. It is of medium-late maturity and produces round, white tubers with shallow eyes.
Soon Jai Park, Ph.D. (1937–2018) was a Canadian federal research scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Harrow, Ontario. He was internationally known for his dry bean breeding program that expanded bean production in Canada – taking beans that are usually grown in Africa, India, Korea, Japan and Brazil, and breeding them so they could thrive in Ontario and Western Canada to give farmers new crops to grow. He developed more than 28 bean varieties during his 25 year career
