From San Pedro to the world: After 11 years of improvement, Argentina has a new "long life" nectarine variety.

After 11 years of improvement, Argentina has managed to register a new variety of nectarine. It is called Pionero INTA, developed by that Institute in the town of San Pedro, and it is already ready to be licensed to the production sector. What distinguishes it is its conservation aptitude of over 47 days, making it the first with that characteristic in the country and one of the few worldwide. "From a productive point of view, it overcomes the physiological barriers that prevent the vast majority of varieties of this perishable crop from reaching distant markets via sea transport," highlighted Gerardo Sánchez, creator of the variety and researcher at INTA San Pedro. Until now, peaches and nectarines had to be refrigerated at 0 degrees to extend their conservation, although they rarely managed to exceed 14 days while maintaining acceptable quality. Considering that the long post-harvest quality allows this variety to be considered for commercialization in distant destinations such ...