Performance of superior potato clones under high and mild temperatures in tropical climate

Abstract

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a cool weather crop and one of the most important vegetables in the world, which is cultivated in temperate, subtropical, and tropical climates. Nearly all cultivated areas in Brazil use cultivars from temperate countries, resulting in lower performances particularly due to higher temperatures. The aim of this study was to identify clones that yielded better than foreign cultivars, both under high and mild temperature conditions. The study assessed 57 clones from the potato breeding program of the Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA), Brazil, and five check cultivars (Agata, Asterix, Atlantic, Cupido, and Markies). We evaluated the agronomic performance using the total and marketable tuber yield, dry matter content (DM), season length, and external tuber quality, in four experiments designing in a random complete block, during the seasons 2014 and 2015. The genotypes' stability, as well as the discrimination between environments, was performed using the GGE-Biplot method. Twenty heat-tolerant clones responded favorably to mild temperatures. This breeding program has generated clones more productive and better looking than commercial cultivars, for the different market segments: two for the fresh market (GMR 17-40; GMR 12-10), four for frozen French fries (CBM 07-78; CTB 03-02; GMR 15-42; SR2 35-05) and seven for potato chips (CBM 16-16; SR1 07-16; GMR 03-58; SR3 19-24; SR2 57-02; SR1 04-06; SR3 32-04).