How has the consistency of the Common catalogue of varieties of vegetable species changed in the last ten years?

In the EU Countries, only the propagation organs of varieties that are distinct, stable, and uniform and with an appropriate value for cultivation or use may be marketed. For this reason, since 1972 the European community has implemented the Common catalogue of varieties of vegetable species, which incorporates the relevant national registers and includes 58 species. In this review, we consider the complete edition of Common catalogue of varieties of vegetable species of 2018 (37th edition) and 2008 (27th edition), in order to assess the changes that have occurred to several Countries, to species (specific and intraspecific diversity) and to propagation/seed type (hybrid varieties, open-pollinated varieties, agamic propagation varieties and conservation varieties). The most important Country is always The Netherlands, which in the 2018 Common catalogue holds 8350 varieties (40.4 % of total). The species with the greater number of varieties are tomato (3675 varieties), pepper (2216) and lettuce (2114). In the last ten years, the number of hybrid varieties has increased from 9507 to 11,871, while the common varieties have increased from 7683 to 7,706. In this review, we discuss such data in relation to the innovation that the horticultural sector has registered in recent years.

Automated summary

In EU countries, only distinct, stable, and uniform plant varieties with appropriate value for cultivation or use are marketed. The Netherlands is the most important country holding the highest number of vegetable varieties. Over the past decade, the number of hybrid varieties has increased while common varieties have remained stable.