Days Main Uses Carrot 41 
Carott Carot 
Recon CARROT paeeteetes 
Daucus carota var. sativa 
The inside of a carrot is something that was, for many years, more or less neglected by 
seedsmen. Many carrot strains that look nice on the outside have interiors that are pale 
yellow and streaked, rather than uniformly deep orange. This is important to gar- 
deners and especially to processors because it determines the appearance of diced or 
sliced carrots, and because darker interiors mean more carotene (Vitamin A). 
Corneli began many years ago to carry on a special kind of selection program with car- 
rots. At our Twin Falls, Idaho, breeding farm, mother roots for foundation or elite stock 
seed are split lengthwise on the device shown below, and examined carefully for intensity 
and uniformity of interior color. All but the very best are discarded; the half-roots 
selected for increase are treated with a special fungicide and set back in the ground. 
The seed saved from these plants is used to grow planting stock the following season. 
In production of commercial carrot seed, roots are grown on our own breeding farm, dug 
and stored over winter, then sorted carefully for shape before being sent out to farm- 
ers’ fields in the spring for re-setting. 
The result of this two-phase selection program is carrots of the highest quality, from 
inside to outside, that the industry knows how to produce. 
This is the device used to split carrot roots for selection as to interior color. 
