In Vitro Synthetic Seed Production of Potato under Different Fungicide Levels and Storage Intervals

Potato propagation through tubers and seed is an inefficient way of propagation thus we propose an alternative method in this study which is in vitro propagation. Plantlets were raised from True Potato Seeds (TPS) in test tubes containing 10 mL of Murashige Skoog (MS) medium. Subculturing was done after every 21 days and after four subsequent subculturing, when there was an adequate quantity of stock material, uninodal cuttings of about 3-4 mm in length were prepared from in vitro proliferated potato plants by excising leaves of 1-2 mm on each side of the node. Prepared uninodal cuttings were cultured on 1/2 strength MS medium for root primordia development. The selected uninodal cuttings with root primordia were encapsulated with sodium alginate solution (3.5% (w/v), mixed with 1.25% charcoal and different concentration of fungicide (thiophanate methyl, sigma) to enhance the viability percentage of synthetic seed. Furthermore, these encapsulated uninodal cuttings were subjected to different storage intervals to check maximum storage. Results showed that optimum dose for fungicide is 150 mg/L as it resulted in good viability percentage, shoot number, shoot length, rooting percentage, root number, root length and ideal for bead formation with sodium alginate. Similarly, results revealed that encapsulated uninodal cuttings can be stored at a temperature of 4? up to 45 days with a survival rate of 63.33%. Encapsulated uninodal cutting stored for 60 days showed a poor viability percentage of about 43.03%. It can be concluded that optimum dose of 150 mg/L with storage time of 45 days should be used to get a better outcome for synthetic potato seed production.

Automated summary

In this study, an alternative method of in vitro propagation was proposed to overcome the inefficiency of potato propagation through tubers and seed. Plantlets were raised from True Potato Seeds (TPS) in test tubes and subsequent subculturing was done to obtain sufficient stock material. Uninodal cuttings were prepared from in vitro proliferated potato plants and cultured for root primordia development. The encapsulated uninodal cuttings showed good viability percentage and can be stored for up to 45 days with a survival rate of 63.33%. The optimum dose of fungicide and storage time for synthetic potato seed production was determined to be 150 mg/L and 45 days, respectively.