Fresh Cut Lettuce

This present invention relates to a lettuce plant having a trait that controls the head formation and thus allows the lettuce not to form a compact head and having leaves well separated and of substantially the same length and width. This lettuce plant can be advantageously used in the fresh cut industry for the manufacture of packaged salads.

Romaine and iceberg lettuce are appreciated by consumers because of their crispiness and freshness for home preparation of salads. However, their preparation is cumbersome since some sort of peel-off of the iceberg lettuce is necessary in order to obtain individualized leaves that need further cutting and shredding because of the big difference in size between the outer and the inner leaves and because of their curved shape. The romaine also necessitates separation of the leaves and cutting of the outer bigger leaves in order to get them of approximate size compared to the inner leaves which are much smaller.

There is therefore a need for lettuce type plants that address the above mentioned problems. Accordingly, this present invention provides a lettuce plant of a given type which comprises an inheritable genetic trait causing non-heading phenotype.

Patent

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