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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » Vegetable Crops Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #95448
Title: FREEZING TOLERANCE AND TUBER PRODUCTION IN SELF AND BACKCROSS PROGENIES DERIVED FROM SOMATIC HYBRIDS BETWEEN SOLANUM TUBEROSUM L AND S COMMERSONII DUN

Author
item CHEN, Y K H - DEPT OF HORT UW MADISON
item PALTA, J P - DEPT OF HORT UW MADISON
item Bamberg, John

Submitted to: Journal of Theoretical and Applied Genetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Potato is most important non-cereal crop in the world, with a great potential to feed an increasingly hungry world. One significant limitation to potato production is frost. Although potato is a cool season crop, current cultivars are all quite sensitive. Since some wild related potato species have remarkable frost tolerance, a worthy goal is the incorporation of frost tolerance from wild species into cultivated varieties. This work studied the offspring of hybrids between cultivated potato and the wild species Solanum commersonii (which is very frost tolerant). It was found that some offspring are much more frost tolerant than any current cultivar. Just as importantly, some plants could be selected which combined good frost tolerance with high yields of large tubers having desirable shape and processing qualities. This could be of great economic and social value, since it then would be pratical to grow potatoes on millions of acres worldwide where it is currently too frosty.

Technical Abstract: Self and backcross progenies developed from tetraploid somatic hybrids between Solanum tuberosum (tbr) and S. commersonii (cmm) were characterized for nonacclimated freezing tolerance (NA) and acclimation capacity (ACC) (two independent genetic components of freezing tolerance) under controlled environments. Thus, ACC appears to be relatively easier to recover in the segregating generation. Some first backcross progeny had better freezing tolerance than the cultivated parent through the increase of ACC. When grown in the field, the improved freezing tolerance observed in the self lines under controlled conditions was confirmed. No significant correlation between undesirable tuber traits and freezing tolerance was detected. Yield comparable to the backcross parent Wis AG 231 and the cultivar Sable was found in many backcross progeny and some self progeny. The observed high yield can be attributed to the increase in mean tuber weight as well as tuber number and may benefit from maximizing heterozygosity. Moreover a high portion of progeny had specific gravity higher than 1.085 and some greater than 1.100. The implications derived from this study in breeding for freezing tolerance and further use of these materials are discussed.