Common sage (Salvia officinalis L.) is one of the main species of aromatic plants cultivated in Switzerland. The almost total absence of characterized commercial varieties, but also the need to have an easy to multiply, high-performance variety 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 variety derived from a polycross and named ‘Carola’. ‘Carola’ has been evaluated since 2020 at 2 locations in Switzerland, in comparison with the former variety ‘Regula’ and the German variety ‘Extrakta’. In the first year of cultivation (1-2 cut), dry yields for this new variety ranged from 2.25 to 2.75 t ha-1 with no significant difference from the other 2 varieties. 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 variety, with 1.9 to 2.5% at the end of summer, is intermediate to the two control varieties, ‘Extrakta’ being the lowest. The seeds of this new Agroscope variety ‘Carola’ will be available from the beginning of 2023 at mediseeds Sarl (www.mediseeds.ch).
