Tuber Flesh Colour, Enzymatic Discolouration, Dormancy and Late Blight Resistance of 29 Tuber-Bearing Accessions of Solanum spp.

Potato relatives adapted to many different habitats are promising sources of desirable agricultural traits for potato breeding. Wild potato relatives are preserved in different collections around the world, and their detailed description is key to their exploitation in practice. We described 29 seed accessions of 26 Solanum species originating from the VIR potato collection (Institute of Plant Industry - VIR, Saint Petersburg, Russia) and preserved in Poland. The description included resistance to Phytophthora infestans, tuber flesh colour, enzymatic discolouration and tuber dormancy (sprouting). Up to 13 genotypes were evaluated per accession. The evaluation was repeated in three years for each trait. Two P. infestans isolates were used in late blight resistance tests. Amongst all the tested accessions, five were resistant to both P. infestans isolates, including genotype 13_A2. Twenty-one accessions had white tuber flesh, and 13 accessions showed a lack of or weak enzymatic discolouration. Additionally, we found accessions that were whiter than the standard white-fleshed Polish potato cultivar Irys. In our material, we observed a large variation in the length of the sprouts after storage, indicating differences in the dormancy period length. Four accessions showed a lack of sprouting after 28 weeks of storage at 5-6 degrees C. The tested material is preserved as in vitro plants in the National Centre for Plant Genetic Resources: Polish Genebank (IHAR-PIB, Radzikow, Poland), which will facilitate their use in breeding programs.

Automated summary

Wild potato relatives are potential sources of desirable agricultural traits for potato breeding. We described 29 seed accessions of 26 Solanum species from the VIR potato collection and preserved in Poland. The evaluation included resistance to disease, tuber flesh color, enzymatic discoloration, and tuber dormancy. We found valuable potato relatives with resistance, white flesh, and longer dormancy periods.