Vanilla market suffers
The global vanilla market, essentially constituted of small holders, is facing important agronomic constraints.
Diseases affecting vanilla vines are becoming serious threats to the production. Presently, no real curative practice is available against several of these diseases, notably rot-stem rot. Research addressing these major difficulties is still limited to a few laboratories, and it needs support from the vanilla industrial sector.
Eurovanille, which represents 5% market share of the global vanilla market, has chosen to support two major domains of this research in 2016, including the establishment of the vanilla DNA sequence and the introduction of newly obtained resistant genotypes of vanilla planifolia into contaminated soil.
Eurovanille, in partnership with a consortium of French public laboratories and V Mane Fils, is being associated to a project of sequencing the vanilla planifolia genome.
Sequencing the genome is the starting point for a detailed understanding of the biology and agricultural practices for vanilla. This genomic characterisation will be essential to carry out projects like breeding for resistance against the root and stem rot disease.
For Eurovanille, this is an important challenge because these applications will, among other things, help to reduce the amount of pesticides being used; and thus process towards sustainable agricultural practices for growers.
Other genetic characters, such as variations in the flavour profiles, will also be considered in the future. The sequence will be made available to the scientific community via public databases. This will help to increase global knowledge and strengthen expertise.