Influence of Plant Density and Genotype on Potato Minituber Production from Microshoots and Microtubers

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt.

Abstract

Seed tubers represent the major cost for potato production in Egypt. With the introduction of tissue culture technology, it becomes possible to obtain virus-free potato plantlets or microtubers in vitro for subsequent use in minituber production. These two stock materials were examined for potato minituber production inside a glasshouse at different planting densities (5, 10, 15 and 20) plantlets or microtubers per 20 cm pots filled with soilless medium during the period 2014-2016. Several potato genotypes were also screened for their minituber and seed tuber yield potentials. Results indicated that with the increase in planting density, minituber yield and number per pot and per m2 were increased, but mean minituber weight decreased, in the two-tested cultivars 'Diamant' and 'Universa'. Significant differences among 19 potato genotypes were detected on their minituber yield characteristics, including minituber number and yield per plant, and average minituber weight, using microtubers as starting plant materials. Among 19 tested genotypes, the newly introduced potato cultivars 'Universa', 'Safrane', and 'Triomphe' outper-formed the rest of cultivars in minituber production. Seed potato production in the field was successfully achieved from the culture of the obtained minitubers, and the cv. 'Safrane' recorded the highest seed tuber yield and mean tuber fresh weight, while the cvs. Agria and Nicola recorded the highest numbers of seed tubers per plant.

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