Potato

INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In a recent paper (Świeżyński et al. 1997) available information has been collected on the pedigree of potato varieties from Europe and North America. At present 137 major varieties from these regions are described, selected according to following criteria:

varieties cultivated at present at least in five countries,

five varieties occupying the largest certified seed area in each of 8 European countries with the largest potato production and in the two countries of North America or,

varieties, which are parents of at least five varieties cultivated at present.

The description consists of three parts:

characteristics of the 137 varieties (Tables: 1A, 1B and 1C),

size of certified seed production of the most widely grown varieties (Table 2) and,

lists of progeny of 11 varieties, which have the most numerous progeny (Table 3).

The following abbreviations are used to indicate countries:

A — Austria, B — Belgium, BG — Bulgaria, BY — Belarus, CDN — Canada, CH — Switzerland, CZ — Czech Republic, D — Germany, DK — Denmark, E — Spain, EST — Estonia, F — France, FIN — Finland, GB — United Kingdom, GR — Greece, H — Hungary, I — Italy, IRL — Ireland, L — Luxemburg, LT — Lithuania, LV — Latvia, N — Norway, NL — The Netherlands, P — Portugal, PL — Poland, R — Romania, RUS — Russian Federation, S — Sweden, SK — Slovakia, SLO — Slovenia, UA — Ukraine, USA — United States of America, YU — Yugoslavia

The authors are very grateful to Dr. P. Watts from North Ireland for the correction of the English version of the text, to K. G. Haynes (1998a), R. C. B. Hutten (1998), I. I. Kolyadko (1997), L. I. Kostina (1998), A. Podgayevsky (1997), G. Tai (1998) and K. Zarzyńska (1998) for providing characteristics of some varieties, to the Group GEVES, Guyancourt, France for the permission to reproduce data from Anonymous (1994) and to the Editor P. Parey, Berlin for the permission to reproduce data from Stegemann, Schnick (1985).

CHARACTERISTICS OF POTATO VARIETIES

The descriptions are based on published data, supplemented occasionally by own data or correspondence. Sometimes published data are not consistent (these disrepancies were analysed recently for some characters by Świeżyński and Domański 1998). In such cases extreme values are presented with the source indicated.

Explanations to Table 1

Table 1 consists of three parts.
Characters shown in columns 1 - 16 are grouped in Table 1A, those shown in columns 17 - 31 are grouped in Table 1B and those shown in columns 32 - 47 are grouped in Table 1C. It was attempted to utilise descriptions used to describe varieties in gene banks (Anonymous1997b). Most characters are evaluated in 1 - 9 scale (9 - best, earliest, largest etc.). In some descriptions an opposite scale was used (1 - best). In such cases original data have been inverted (1=9, 2=8 etc.) before introducing them into the table. It was attempted to regard 5 as mean value, but in some published descriptions the range was 3 - 9 with mean value 6. Such data were introduced into the table without change. In some sources the characters are evaluated only in a general way. In such situation symbols were introduced into the tables: very desirable (++), desirable (+), intermediate (+-), undesirable (-) or very undesirable (=). Half grades, appearing in some descriptions, were disregarded (e.g. 7.5 was treated as 7, etc.). Characteristics may depend on information available in the source; therefore e.g. the same level of eelworm resistance could be defined as R, Ro1 or Ro14 and the same flower colour could be defined as W or WU, depending on the source.

If data from different sources differed by less than 2 grades, values from international descriptions were introduced (Joosten 1991, Stegemann and Schnick 1985) and if these differed, lower values were introduced into the table. If sources differed by two grades or more, both extreme values were introduced with indication of the source. If the evaluation was based on two consistent sources (differing by less than two grades) the values are presented in bold.
Some characters are defined with capital letters, using abbreviations from the English language.
Column:

name of the variety

letters indicate the main description sources; the sources are listed, as references, on p.; to present them in a concise way, they are designated with letters (and sometimes grouped), as follows:

Anonymous (1994)

Anonymous (1977, 1997a)

Anonymous (1997d)

Ebskamp, Bonthuis (1996)

Hogen Esch, Zingstra (1957, 1962, 1971/72), Joosten (1991), Joosten, van der Woude (1985)

Borys, Kamasa (1987), Kamasa (1997, 1998), Roztropowicz (1996)

Stegemann, Schnick (1985)

Schick, Klinkowski (1962)

Snell, Gayer (1942)

Young et al. (1983)

(other sources): Akeley et al. (1948, 1968), Cuningham et al. (1968), Haynes (1998a, b), Hutten (1998), Johansen et al. (1959, 1988), Kolyadko (1997), Kostina (1985, 1998), MacDonald (1991), Pisarev (1975), Podgayevsky (1997), Rieman (1962), Tai (1998), Webb et al. (1978), Yashina et al. (1997), Zarzyńska (1998).

In addition an asterix (*) shown in column 4, indicates that the given variety was also descibed by one of the authors (Stypa) in the gene bank at Bonin.

3 — country and year of introduction

4 — countries in which the variety is cultivated at present, according to Świeżyński et al. (1997); most widely cultivated varieties (shown on Table 2) are typed in bold; varieties present in the gene bank of the Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute, Research Center Bonin (Stypa 1998) are marked with an asterix (*)

5 - 7 progeny: number of varieties cultivated at present for which the given variety is the female parent (5), the male parent (6) or one of the parents (7)

8 - resistance to eelworm (Globodera spp.): R - resistant, S - susceptible; if data are available, pathotypes of G. rostochiensis (Ro) or G. pallida (Pa), are indicated, to which the variety is resistant

9 - resistance to wart (Synchytrium endobioticum): R - resistant to pathotype 1, S - susceptible to pathotype 1, P - resistant to several pathotypes (the pathotypes may be indicated); moderate susceptibility (+-)

10 — resistance to late blight (Phytophthora infestans) in foliage (1 - 9): 1 - very susceptible, 9 - very resistant; if data are available the presence of R genes is indicated (R), or they may be named (R1, R2 etc.)

11 — resistance to tuber blight (P. infestans) (1 - 9): 1 - very susceptible, 9 - very resistant

12 — resistance to common scab (Streptomyces scabies) (1 - 9): 1 - very susceptible, 9 - very resistant

13 — resistance to black leg (Erwinia spp.) (1 - 9): 1 - very susceptible, 9 - very resistant

14 — resistance to the potato leafroll virus (1 - 9): 1 - very susceptible, 9 - very resistant

15 — resistance to the potato virus Y (1 - 9): 1 - very susceptible, 9 - very or extremely resistant

16 — resistance to spraing (1 - 9): 1 - very susceptible, 9 - very resistant

17 — tuber skin colour: W - white/yellow, P - pink, R - red, F - faint, B - bicoloured

18 — tuber skin quality: very rough (=), rough (-) or smooth (+)

19 — tuber flesh colour: W - white, C - cream, LY - light yellow, Y - yellow, DY - deep yellow

20 — tuber shape: R - round, O - oval, L - long, VL - very long

21 — tuber eye depth (1 - 9): 1 - very deep, 9 - very shallow

22 — tuber shape regularity (1 - 9): 1 - very irregular, 9 - very regular (in sources from Germany the character tuber beauty: "Knollenschönheit" was utilised)

23 — tuber number per plant (1 - 9): 1 - very few, 9 - many

24 — tuber size (1 - 9): 1 - very small, 9 - very large

25 — tuber uniformity (1 - 9): 1 - very variable, 9 - very uniform (from Anonymous1997d the character: freedom from outgrades was utilised)

26 — dry matter (starch) content in tubers (1 - 9): 1 - very low, 9 - very high

27 — tuber yield (1 - 9): 1 - very low, 9 - very high

28 — cooking type: A - firm, B - fairly firm, C - mealy, D - very mealy

29 — taste (1 - 9): 1 - poor, 9 - excellent

30 — enzymatic browning (1 - 9): 1 - severe, 9 - extremely low

31 — after cooking blackening (1 - 9): 1 - severe, 9 - extremely low

32 — French fries suitability: suitable (+)

33 — chipping suitability: suitable (+)

34 — suitability for mashed potatoes: suitable (+)

35 — second growth of tubers (1 - 9): 1 - very high tendency, 9 - very low tendency

36 — hollow heart in tubers (1 - 9): 1 - very high tendency, 9 - very low tendency

37 — growth cracking of tubers (1 - 9): 1 - very high tendency, 9 - very low tendency

38 — tuber resistance to external damage (1 - 9): 1 - very susceptible, 9 - very resistant

39 — tuber resistance to internal bruising (1 - 9): 1 - very susceptible, 9 - very resistant

40 — drought tolerance (1 - 9): 1 - very low, 9 - very high

41 — flowering (1 - 9): 1 - none or very rare flowers, 9 - profuse flowering

42 — berry set (1 - 9): 1 - no berries, 9 - numerous berries

43 — flower colour: W - white, R - red-purple, B - blue, F - faint, C - coloured, but colour not defined, U - red only on the side of the calyx

44 — colour of light sprouts: G - green, R - red-violet, B - blue

45 — maturity (1 - 9): 1 - very late, 9 - first early

46 — dormancy period of the tubers (1 - 9): 1 - very short, 9 - very long (in German descriptions lack of sprouting: "Keimfreundigkeit")

47 — utilisation: C - consumption, S - starch production, P - food processing industry

MOST WIDELY GROWN VARIETIES

The participation in certified seed area of five main varieties is presented for each of the eight European countries with largest potato production and for both countries of North America (Table 2). From data presented in Table 2 it follows that in these countries is obtained nearly one half of the total world potato production.

VARIETIES WITH MOST NUMEROUS PROGENY

The lists of progeny are compiled for 11 varieties, which are parents of at least 10 varieties cultivated at present (Table 3). In columns 5 and 6 of Table 1A it may be found how often the given variety was used as female or male parent. The full pedigree of the characterised varieties and of their progeny, as well, as countries in which the progeny varieties are cultivated at present are given by Świeżyński et al. (1997).

CHARACTERISTICS OF MAJOR POTATO VARIETIES FROM EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA