Pedigree of variety Heinz 1706
Ozminkowski, R., HeinzSeed, P.O. Box 57, Stockton, CA 95201
In 2003, it was determined that the tomato variety H1706 would be part of the worldwide tomato
genome project. Since then, there have been numerous requests for seed and for a history of the
variety. This note is intended to provide a current review of our records on the development of the
variety H1706.
H1706 was developed by Charlie John in the mid 1960s at Heinzs Bowling Green, OH research
facility. It was commercialized as a processing tomato about 1967 for use in Ontario, Canada and
in the midwestern United States. Contemporary varieties were ES24, H1350, VF145, Fireball,
and Roma VF.
Disease resistance of H1706 is VF, carrying the I and Ve genes. Plants are vigorous with good
yield potential. Maturity is well concentrated and considered fairly early. Fruit are medium-sized
oval to pear-shaped and the fruit tend to drop easily. It was developed as a processing tomato for
machine harvesting; pedicles are jointed (J). Relative to its contemporary varieties H1706 had
strong crack resistance and firm fruit. Crack resistance was a primary objective for varieties
developed in our Ohio program and H1706 contains some of thebest sources available at the
time.
The background of H1706 is primarily from recombinations of co mmercial tomato varieties.
Grandparents include Fireball and Roma (obtained from Harris Seeds, Rochester, NY) and VR
Moscow; pedigree records indicate that VR Moscow is the likely maternal (cytoplasm) contributor.
The fourth grandparent is a selection from a recombination of Burgess Crackproof and an Eastern
States line (ES 25). ES 25 was selected from a variable population developed by O. Pearson in
the 1950s. The ES population is reported to have a background of Andrus 2153, Firesteel,
Yeagers high vitamin line and Hannas L. pimpinellifolium hybrid 17-5 (which was made around
1944).
As with many heirloom open-pollinated varieties, seed may be available from various sources. In
this case, different selections of H1706 were used at different times in various commercial
production programs. We are unable to confirm sources of old lots of H1706 in various germplasm
banks. The seed Dr. Rod Wing (then of Texas A&M) used for the production of the BAC library was
obtained directly from our Ohio breeding program. It was this lot of seed that has been used for
subsequent increases for this research project. Thus, any differences between various sources of
this variety can be avoided if this current lineage is used (referred to as H1706-BG). Because of
the sensitivity of genome evaluation, HeinzSeed will maintain this lineage and is providing seed to
the USDA to update their collection.
In addition to other major collections, seed can obtained from Heinz at the above address or by e-
mail (rich.ozminkowski@husa.com). The seed is distributed for research use only. Please provide
any necessary importation permits for international shipments.
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