Brazil's agricultural research agency Embrapa has made four new yerba mate cultivars available for commercial licensing, giving growers of the South American beverage crop a choice bred for different combinations of yield, shade tolerance and flavour. Embrapa Florestas, its forestry unit in Paraná, issued a technology offer on 16 September inviting companies and nurseries to apply to propagate and sell BRS 408, BRS 409, BRS BLD Aupaba and BRS BLD Yari.

BRS 408 and BRS 409 were selected from existing progenies in Cascavel and Bocaiúva do Sul and multiplied by mini-cuttings; Aupaba was selected from a native stand in São Mateus do Sul. BRS 408 is rated at about 18,000 kg of green leaf mass per hectare every 18 months with a medium-soft flavour, and BRS 409 at about 24,000 kg under higher-input management.

Embrapa's materials give no data on caffeine, disease resistance or full multi-year yield trials, so growers will need more agronomic data before large plantings, Global Agriculture notes.

Photo: Phillip Capper / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Source: Global Agriculture