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Title: ‘ZipperCream-GC’, a Large-seeded, Cream-type Southernpea with a Green Cotyledon Phenotype

Author
item Fery, Richard

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/16/2009
Publication Date: 8/1/2009
Citation: Fery, R.L. 2009. ‘ZipperCream-GC’, a Large-seeded, Cream-type Southernpea with a Green Cotyledon Phenotype. HortScience. 44(5):1474-1475.

Interpretive Summary: ‘Zipper Cream’ is a large-seeded, cream-type southernpea variety that has been a popular item in both the home garden seed trade and the frozen food industry for almost 40 years. Traditionally, ‘Zipper Cream’ peas are harvested when fresh to produce an exceptionally high quality raw product. However, modern harvesting equipment (axial-flow grain combines) requires that the peas be at the dry stage of maturity for harvesting, and this has resulted in the loss of the fresh green color that is characteristic of a high quality processed product. About 12 years ago, an effort was initiated at the U.S. Vegetable Laboratory in Charleston, SC, to incorporate a gene conditioning a persistent green seed trait into a ‘Zipper Cream’ type genetic background. These efforts resulted in the January 2008 release of ‘ZipperCream-GC’. The new cultivar is recommended for use by fresh-market growers, home gardeners, and the frozen food industry. The size and shape of ‘ZipperCream-GC’ seeds are quite similar to those of ‘Zipper Cream’ seeds. The new cultivar can be harvested at the dry stage of maturity without loss of the pea’s fresh green color. Dry ‘ZipperCream-GC’ peas imbibed to restore fresh-harvest seed size and blanched in boiling water for 3 minutes exhibit a near-fresh green color.

Technical Abstract: The USDA has released a high yielding, large-seeded, cream-type southernpea cultivar with a green cotyledon phenotype. The new cultivar, named ‘ZipperCream-GC’, can be harvested at the dry-pod stage of maturity without loss of the pea’s fresh green color. ‘ZipperCream-GC’ was developed as a replacement for ‘Zipper Cream’, a cream-type crowder cultivar long popular with home gardeners and fresh market growers. ‘ZipperCream-GC’ was developed using a backcross/pedigree breeding procedure that utilized ‘Zipper Cream’, ‘Bettergreen’, and ‘Freezegreen’ as parental lines. ‘ZipperCream-GC’ originated as a bulk of an F6 (BC2F3 x BC2F3) population grown in 2003. The plant, pod, seed, and maturity characteristics of the new cultivar are quite similar to those of ‘Zipper Cream’. A typical dry pod is moderately curved, 15 to 16 cm long, and contains 14 to 15 peas. Fresh ‘ZipperCream-GC’ peas exhibit a semi-crowder to crowder shape, similar to ‘Zipper Cream’. The dry peas have a globose-like shape and a smooth seed coat, and are slightly smaller than those of ‘Zipper Cream’ (19.6 g vs. 20.3 g per 100 peas). The results of five replicated field tests conducted over a four-year period at Charleston, SC, indicate that ‘ZipperCream-GC’ and ‘Zipper Cream’ yields are comparable. ‘ZipperCream-GC’ is homozygous for the gc gene that conditions the green cotyledon trait. ‘ZipperCream-GC’ is recommended for use by fresh-market growers, home gardeners, and the frozen food industry.