Agroscope launches ‘Carola’, a new cultivar of sage (Salvia officinalis L.)

Common sage (Salvia officinalis L.) is one of the main species of aromatic plants cultivated in Switzerland.
The almost total absence of characterized commercial cultivars, but also the need to have an easy to multiply, high-performance cultivar adapted to cultivation in mountain areas, led us to set up a new breeding program for S. officinalis. Started in 2010, this work led to the creation of a new cultivar derived from a polycross and named ‘Carola’. ‘Carola’ has been evaluated since 2020 at 2 locations in Switzerland, in comparison with the former cultivar ‘Regula’ and the German cultivar ‘Extrakta’. In the first year of cultivation (1-2 cut), dry yields for this new cultivar ranged from 2.25 to 2.75 t ha^‑1 with no significant difference from the other 2 cultivars.
In the second year (2 to 3 cuts), ‘Carola’ is equivalent to ‘Extrakta’ with an average dry yield of 4.10 t ha^‑1, and slightly higher than ‘Regula’. The essential oil content of the leaves of this new cultivar, with 1.9 to 2.5% at the end of summer, is intermediate to the two control cultivars, ‘Extrakta’ being the lowest.
The seeds of this new Agroscope cultivar ‘Carola’ will be available from the beginning of 2023 at mediseeds Sarl (www.mediseeds.ch).

XXXI International Horticultural Congress (IHC2022): International Symposium on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Domestication, Breeding, Cultivation and New Perspectives

X. Simonnet, B. Christ, C.-A. Carron, J. Vouillamoz, M. Pramsohler, C. Carlen

Salvia officinalis, aromatic plant, essential oil, breeding, polycross, ‘Carola’

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1358.5