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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Genetic Improvement for Fruits & Vegetables Laboratory » Research » Research Project #431606

Research Project: Potato Genetic Improvement for Eastern U.S. Production

Location: Genetic Improvement for Fruits & Vegetables Laboratory

Project Number: 8042-21000-283-006-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 25, 2016
End Date: Sep 24, 2020

Objective:
Determine the heritability of traits associated with nitrogen use efficiency in a hybrid diploid potato population and map the genes involved.

Approach:
Seedlings from 20+ crosses between S. phureja-stenotomum clones and S. chacoense clones segregating for nitrogen use efficiency (CCF=controlled cross families) and open-pollinated seed from the same S. phureja-stenotomum clones (OPF=open-pollinated families) will be grown in Florida using a split-plot design where the main plot factor is nitrogen level (high vs low) and the sub-plot factor is type of family. At harvest, tubers will be collected, weighed, and counted. Specific gravity will be determined by the weight in air and water method. Agronomic efficiency will be calculated as the ratio of tuber yield under low nitrogen to tuber yield under high nitrogen. Realized genetic gain will be calculated as the difference in agronomic efficiency between the two types of families (CCF vs OPF). The experiment will be repeated an additional year. Two hundred offspring from a cross between a late blight resistant Solanum phurej-stenotomum clone and a nitrogen use efficient Solanum chacoense clone (mapping population) will be grown in a split-plot design with two replications. Main plot factor is nitrogen level (high vs low) and the sub-plot factor is offspring clone. At harvest, tubers will be collected, weighed, and counted. Specific gravity will be determined by the weight in air and water method. Agronomic efficiency will be calculated as the ratio of tuber yield under low nitrogen to tuber yield under high nitrogen. DNA will be collected from individual offspring (clones) and genotyped with the Illumina SNP chip. QTL mapping will be performed using Map QTL and Genstat.