December 4, 2025
When pests threaten crops above ground, it’s easy to catch. But what happens beneath the surface can be just as much – if not more – damaging to your crops. In brassica, clubroot threatens crops but thanks to innovations from Syngenta Vegetable Seeds, growers can plant more confidently.
Innovating for the future
In 2003 and subsequent years, Syngenta was one of the first companies to introduce a wide range of clubroot-resistant brassica varieties, including white cabbage, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts. Later on, clubroot-resistant broccoli and savoy cabbage completed the offering.
“It was some years before we could bring a commercial variety to market,” said Pim Neefjes, Global Crop Head for Leafy, Brassica and Okra Crops at Syngenta, who started working on the trait in 1987. “But it was all worth it. In the Netherlands, for example, the variety Clarina (with clubroot resistance) has become of the most-grown cauliflower varieties in the country, and not only on clubroot-infected soil.”
This marked a major step forward in the control of clubroot, alongside other agronomical control methods such as liming and crop rotation. Today Clarina is grown in large parts in Northwest Europe.
“Beyond just clubroot resistance, this variety is also appreciated for general characteristics such as the reliability in growing and the curd quality,” Neefjes said. “Developing varieties that are reliable to grow under various growing conditions and seasons is key. By breeding varieties that can better tolerate weather conditions combined with levels of resistance against pest and diseases, we are supporting farmers' livelihoods but also contributing to a more sustainable and climate-friendly agricultural future.”
What Makes Clubroot so Devastating
Related to slime molds, the clubroot organism - Plasmodiophora brassicae – produces resting spores which can contaminate soil for up to two decades. These spores germinate and infect the roots and, after the crop matures, the spores are released back into the soil via rotting tissue. And so, the cycle starts again.
Failure to tackle clubroot leads to the telltale swollen and distorted root system, with a loss of the finer roots, severely inhibiting water and nutrient uptake.
Other symptoms include stunted growth, purplish foliage, and wilted leaves during hot weather – another problem given our changing climate and soaring temperatures during the summer months. And you cannot treat clubroot with any kind of crop protection.
Prevalent in more than 80 countries, clubroot is estimated to cause yield losses of up to 15 percent. Fields unlucky enough to be widely infected can see complete crop failure.
With milder and wetter winters leading to adverse growing conditions in large parts of the world, the resulting moist and warm soil provides perfect conditions for the pathogen (which cannot grow outside of a susceptible host). This means that protection for brassicas like cabbages, cauliflower, and broccoli is vital.
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