'SOJIRO': EXTREMELY EARLY MATURITY SPRING-SOWING ONION HYBRID WITH RESISTANCE TO FUSARIUM BASAL ROT

A hybrid spring-sowing onion (Allium cepa L.) cultivar ‘Sojiro’ was developed by the joint breeding program among Hokkaido Research Organization (Kitami Agricultural Experiment Station), Sakata Seed Corporation, and HOKUREN Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives. This cultivar is extremely early maturity type and was released in Hokkaido which is northern-most region in Japan. ‘Sojiro’ has attractive dark brown-colored skin which envelops the bulb tightly. The bulb shape is round or slightly round-flat. Therefore, the appearance is desirable for fresh onion market in Japan. Furthermore, this cultivar indicates strong resistance to Fusarium basal rot (FBR). This cultivar should be very beneficial for farmers and market in Japan because almost none of extremely early maturity cultivars in Hokkaido have high resistance to FBR, which can be caused at all stages including field, transportation and market.