Red, robust and recognizable

Daniel Puglisi and Samuele Mariani work in different roles in our fledgling Vegetables Business Unit, where they are responsible for the fragmented tomato business. The two Italians illustrate how important internal dialogue and innovation are.

When breeder Samuele Mariani goes shopping with his daughter, she occasionally asks him: “Dad, are those your tomatoes?” Samuele looks at the San Marzano variety on the shelf, for example. Either the fruit has a yellowish color at the base of its stem, as is often the case. Or it has been bred by Samuele and is therefore completely and uniformly red. “Yes, they’re my tomatoes,” he then says with pride.

Daniel Puglisi’s earliest memories of vegetables are linked to his own childhood. As a boy, he roamed among his family’s tomato, watermelon and pepper plants in Sicily. “My mother collected the seeds from ripe fruits – she’s the true breeder in the family,” says the 36-year-old. “As a result, I learned to love growing vegetables and their taste at an early age.”

It was therefore not surprising that Daniel went on to study agricultural sciences in Milan. When a vacancy arose in a cucurbits prebreeding project while he was working on his doctoral dissertation, he jumped at the chance. For more than seven years in total he worked at Nunhems, which was first a Bayer’s company before being acquired by BASF. During this time he became Breeder for Tomato Bush Middle East and Rootstocks globally.

“I was working in a chemical company,” he says of those seven years. “But I felt the urge to work for a family-owned company with big ambitions – one that focused solely on seed.” That’s why he joined KWS in October 2024, where he is Head of Breeding Italy and responsible for vegetable business in his home country, as well as being R&D Tomato Crop Lead in charge of tomato breeding worldwide. He is thus the supervisor of Samuele, who has worked in tomato breeding for more than 15 years and has been with KWS since his own company, Geneplanta, was merged with the then newly formed BU Vegetables in 2021.

Great strides forward in just a few years

Both Samuele and Daniel see “incredible advances” in KWS’ relatively young vegetable business – from establishment of the stations and trial areas to building qualified teams and achieving innovative results in research and development in the space of just a few years. Daniel points, for example, to the first tomato hybrids with resistance to the tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV). It causes brown discoloration of the skin and crop failures. “The virus first appeared in 2015 and has been widespread since 2020/2021 – and although the BU Vegetables was still in its infancy, KWS was pretty quick to put resistance to the virus in its own varieties.” Einbeck’s experience in marker technology was a big help in that, as was the close cooperation with colleagues from molecular research at the new vegetable research site in Wageningen.

Diversity of varieties and research

Samuele is fascinated by the diversity of their size, shape, color and taste. “In many countries, tomatoes are part of the most important and traditional dishes, while in others they are like candy for children,” says the 45 year-old. And what he finds particularly exciting: “Many groups around the world are studying tomatoes and their genetics, so there’s a wealth of research findings for us to draw on in our breeding work.”

However, the competition is also fierce. To succeed, “we need precise knowledge about the specific market’s needs for each individual variety,” says Daniel. Key aspects include ripeness, color, a long shelf life, good transportability – and trends. That’s why Daniel, as R&D Tomato Crop Lead, nurtures constant dialogue with colleagues across different departments. “Breeding is the link between production, marketing, sales, product development and research.”

By that, he means: Sales and Product Development have the most intimate knowledge of the different requirements of growers and consumers in each individual country. Together with the seven tomato breeders in Brazil, Italy, Mexico, Spain and Türkiye, Daniel then ensures that the varieties meet local requirements.

Multiple resistances simultaneously

One thing applies to all varieties: Moving forward, tomatoes will have to cope with rising temperatures. And they must be resistant or tolerant to pests. Taking ToBRFV as an example, Daniel explains that the aim now is to make a tolerant plant that has been weakened by the virus fit enough to withstand an attack by another virus at the same time. “Resistance to ToBRFV is a must, otherwise you don’t stand a chance on the market. Now we’re looking for multiple resistances simultaneously.” That is done in our own phytopathology unit, where research into plant diseases is conducted, at the location in Spain.

As Crop Lead for tomatoes, Daniel works with the team to make such medium- to long-term strategic breeding decisions. As Head of Breeding Italy, he also has a dual role for other vegetable varieties. In this capacity, he is responsible for breeding activities for tomatoes and peppers. “The work is less about strategy and more about administration, such as personnel decisions or investments at the stations. For example, if Samuele needs something, he comes to me with his request.”

Daniel loves this diversity in his job: Sometimes he’s at the computer, other times outside visiting customers, trials and breeding stations as well as being in the field with breeders. Tomato breeding – with its two cycles a year – also involves variety. “We plan the sowing for the next season, the new crosses and the trials on the computer,” says Samuele. “In mid-season, we then spend most of our time conducting variety trials, making selections and collecting data. And at the end of the season, it’s back to the computer to analyze the results.”

This is how “something new emerges from an idea,” as Daniel enthusiastically describes his passion for breeding. "Ever since I was young, I’ve been passionate about everything I do. I was a pretty good swimmer, I was a swimming coach, and I sang in a rock group and recorded an album.” That remained a hobby. The rhythm of his life is now dictated by the vegetable he learned to love as a child. |