Parthenope® strawberry from CIV, a winning choice in the Southern Italian areas of the provinces of Caserta and Naples

Commercially, it has received very positive feedback from large-scale retail channel customers.

A strawberry variety characterised by its early ripening. PARTHENOPE® CIVS115*, a low-chill strawberry variety in Caserta and Naples provinces in the Campania region, one of the most important strawberry growing areas in Italy, is becoming more and more popular among companies.  In fact, there are many producers who have been following it since it was only a selection. In some companies, depending on the planting time, PARTHENOPE® CIVS115* has even proved to be the earliest variety of all strawberry varieties.

Here are the first-hand experiences of some producers who have chosen PARTHENOPE® CIVS115* for the 2020/21 campaign.

The first testimony is that of Alfonso Costanzo, an agricultural producer from the Caserta area.

“We planted about 40,000 of the new CIVS115* plants around October 20, 2020 with a delay of at least 10 days in comparison to the standard. This delay combined with a few weeks of cold weather conditions during January resulted in an initial average harvest at the end of February 2021 of slightly less than 100 g per plant. Nonetheless, in the last few weeks the plants have largely recovered in terms of vegetative and productive capacity, which is a clear sign of the earliness of this variety. The pollination was very good and the fruits are homogeneous, with a nice size and a complete colour level”. Regarding the physiological aspects: ” This variety is characterised by a plant with an upward growth and fruit outside the foliage. This feature, together with the homogenous size and shape of the fruit, makes harvesting easier (speed, quality) and reduces costs”.

Other producers of the same area, including Carlo Bove and Giuseppe Pezone, planted respectively 65,000 and 115,000 new plants of CIVS115*/Parthenope® around mid-October 2020 with a reported yield of about 100 g per plant at the end of February 2021. “The fruit has a very high Brix and a medium acidity, which results in an intense taste. The fruit is appealing, with a conical shape, it is also highly homogeneous among the fruits and able to reach a bright red colour even in winter time. The fruit is therefore very attractive for the markets, where a good shelf-life helps its commercialisation.”.

From a marketing point of view, we give the floor to two leading companies in the fruit distribution/trading sector: Antonio Giaccio (O.P. Giaccio Frutta) and Michele Andreozzi (Agrifutur Coop).

Antonio Giaccio – the owner of O.P. Giaccio Frutta, which operates in the fruit and vegetable area of Alto Casertano – underlines some important characteristics of PARTHENOPE® CIVS115*: “From an agonomic point of view, it is a rustic variety (very tolerant to oidium) that does not suffer from sudden changes in temperature and ripens well even in winter, with low temperatures and little sun. While commercially, the main distinguishing characteristics are: an excellent organoleptic-sensory response (taste), the elongated shape and the aesthetic characteristics of the fruit, characterised by an excellent taste and a homogenous shape, which allows the variety to be adapted to various packaging solutions (e.g. single layer, 500 g, 250 g). This allows us to gradually start offering it both to the large-scale retail channel – our main distribution channel – and to the Normal Trade channel (regional markets) at national level”.

The last testimony about PARTHENOPE® CIVS115* is provided by Michele Andreozzi, the owner of Agrifutur Coop, which collects the harvests of about 8 local producers for a total of approximately 400,000 plants. Michele Andreozzi confirms what other producers have told: “The earliness of this variety when it is planted as a bare-root plant is already well proven. The fact that the fruit is able to develop a uniform colouring (even at the crown) in the winter period with no light is also a very important factor. The homogeneous shape of the fruit, together with the plant structure, results in easy harvesting with a very high percentage of top-quality fruit and therefore lower harvesting costs. PARTHENOPE® CIVS115* is especially suitable for the single-layer tray, which is getting excellent feedback from large-scale retail customers and commercial intermediaries. This means that PARTHENOPE® CIVS115* could also be seen as a promising opportunity to enhance the value of the entire production and distribution chain”.

To conclude: these testimonies reveal that PARTHENOPE® CIVS115* is gradually gaining ground as a significant opportunity for production and trade for the areas of Caserta and Naples and, more generally, for the Southern Italian areas, aiming to become a variety with constant, high quality production, characterised by a precocious period.

CIV – Consorzio Italiano Vivaisti – is the Italian leader in variety innovation and the production of certified propagation material. Operating since 1983, based in San Giuseppe di Comacchio, in the Italian province of Ferrara, CIV is a joint venture between three leading Italian nurseries: Vivai Mazzoni, Salvi Vivai, Tagliani Vivai. By means of synergy, experience and significant investments in research, CIV is in a position to offer the latest and most market-driven products. For years, and with a great foresight, CIV has been involved in selecting varieties which can provide high quality production with reduced energy requirements and low environmental impact. Altogether, the three nurseries produce about 5 million rootstocks, 3.5 million apple, pear and stone fruit trees and 250 million strawberry plants every year. CIV is a founding member of the International New-varieties Network (INN), a worldwide association of nurseries which encourages the exchange, evaluation and marketing of new varieties in the world’s major production areas.