Cultivation

Chicory (Cichorium intybus var. foliosum) is the oldest of three varieties of chicory. The "sugar loaf" or "lad" variety has been cultivated for approximately 30 years. Radicchio, which only has been broadly known for a few years, is an Italian species that has a red colour because of the anthocyanins.

Chicory seeds are sown in spring. The roots that are harvested in the fall are stored in absolute darkness. After a while, the sprouts are formed that, without light, cannot develop the green pigment chlorophyll: the leaves are white, the tips yellow. Green colouring implies a high content of the bittern intybin, since it develops together with the chlorophyll.

Utilization

All three sorts of the lettuce chicory belong to the category of winter vegetables.

The sprouts are consumed:

• raw as salad
• steamed as a warm vegetable.

Chicory also is used as raw material resource for inulin. This plant fibre has recently been used as dietary fibre and filler for "functional" or health-promoting foods (probiotic products).

Gene technology: aims of research and development

Agronomic traits

Weed management

• Herbicide tolerance

Disease resistance

• Bacterial resistance

Plant development

• Male sterility for the alleviation of hybrid breeding (high benefit cultivation) in combination with herbicide tolerance.

Quality traits

Modified composition of ingredients

• Carbohydrate metabolism: increased sugar content (inulin and sucrose)

Renewable resources

Production of pharmaceutical agents

• Molecular pharming: a GM chicory that produces artemisinin in the root is in development. This is an agent that occurs naturally in mugwort and is used against a malaria pathogen in Vietnam, China, and Africa.

Field trials with GM chicory

Use of GM chicory