Diploid potato project

[fliver]

Since it seems everybody else is working with tetraploid potatoes(probably for good reason), I thought I would start with diploid taters and see what happens. Assuming they will make tubers that will store for several months, I want to improve productivity, taste, and early and late blight resistance. I will start next spring/summer. I received 3 diploid accessions from Ars-Grin, two of which have early and late blight resistance. They are all phureja type potatoes. My plan so far is to grow about 10 plants from each of the accessions(I have more land available if needed for more plants), save any tubers/berries created each year, and go from there. Selecting only after I know the tubers will store for the winter. As a side project I plan to attempt to pollenize regular tetraploid potatoes with pollen from the diploid plants. I guess we will see what happens.


I decided to post this project here with hope I will get suggestions for improvements from the knowledgeable people frequenting this forum.

[richardw]

All the best with your project

[fliver]

Thanks richardw. I figured I would be doing something plant related when it gets warm around here next summer, might as well be something interesting and possibly useful. At least I will be able to eat it (assuming the plants make tubers, that is)

[rowan]

Not many diploids will store for more than a few weeks let along months but it would be good to get some selected for longer storage.

[billw]

Phureja types will not easily store for several months. You will want to harvest them before natural senescence and then store them at about 36F for the longest possible storage life. If you wait until senescence, they generally will have already sprouted. Or, if you have a greenhouse, you can just grow them over the winter in pots. Also keep in mind that most of them will be short day plants and won't tuberize until after Sep. 23. That is often a more difficult problem than the dormancy. There are diploids that have a bit of dormancy. Those used to be classified as S. stenotomum. S. phureja was selected to grow in a year round non-freezing climate with no need for dormancy. Pollinating tetraploids with diploids is successful a small part of the time and generally gives you a tetraploid with some of the diploid characteristics. Usually they have fair dormancy, but not as much as the tetraploid parent. Repeatedly crossing diploids to tetra/dip hybrids gives the biggest payoff, but dormancy drops with each cross most of the time.

[fliver]

Sounds like I may be in for some disappointing times. (Good thing I have 150 seeds) Maybe something good will come of it. Thanks for the responses.

[billw]

Which lines are you growing? There is a fairly good chance that I have grown them and can tell you whether they are likely to meet your needs.

[fliver]

pi225667
pi225668
pi225705
pi320353

OK so maybe I have 4 accessions.

[billw]

I haven't grown 225667, but I have grown the other three. These are my notes:

225668 Careta Amarilla

Round or compressed, small to medium with deep eyes. Mostly reds and yellows, some blue and orange, few whites. Mostly yellow flesh, some white. Generally large, late, probably short day adapted plants, a few mid season. Many with great flavor. Excellent flowering and large berries. Some appear to be self pollinating. Short to long stolons. Foliage untouched by early or late blight. Low dormancy.

225705 Rosalena

Mostly round, compressed, a few ovoid. Mostly reds, a few blues. Mostly yellow flesh, a few white. Late, probably short day tuberizers. Good flowerers. Short to mid stolons. Foliage affected by early blight. Low dormancy.

320353 Pina

Mostly compressed, a few round. Mostly yellows with yellow flesh. Some with moderately deep eyes. Late, probably short day tuberizers. Small tubers. Moderate flowerers. Short to mid stolons. Low dormancy.

If you are looking for dormancy, you'll probably want to avoid the Colombian accessions. Bolivian accessions have the best odds of some useful dormancy, also anything that was previously categorized as S. stenotomum.

I've gotten some very good stuff from Careta Amarilla. No dormancy, but good flavor and a few that are not strictly short day. I've attached a picture of a seedling lot from that accession.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

+1! Your probably right in the fact that tetraploid potatoes are probably genetically superior, but at the current moment i'm more interested in diploid potatoes too. I think i'm more interested in the "fingerling" types, but the diploids have more varied genetics. The weird dark purple funky shaped ones from peru sure look cool! My diploid TPS seed test failed this year, but i will keep trying over the upcoming ones. Hey, before i collaborated with joseph on the watermelon project i had failed growing watermelons like 4-5 years in a row. So just because something fails at first is not a reason to keep trying with it.

[fliver]

I believe Solanum stenotomum subsp. goniocalyx is now Solanum tuberosum subsp. andigenum.

[billw]

Yeah, you can't search for them anymore since stenotomum has been merged into andigenum. These are all the stenotomum accessions that are available as seed. As I recall, there are maybe 2 or 3 more that are available as in vitros, but I never requested those.

195186
195204
195213
205526
205527
230512
230513
234007
234008
234009
234010
234011
234012
234013
234015
292099
292110
365344

I found the in vitros in my notes:

595444
607472
642442

That should be everything the USDA still has that was once classified as S. stenotomum.

[fliver]

Given the "new" information, I have ordered 3 different accession from Grin.
They are
PI 205526 CPC 1839 Solanum tuberosum subsp. andigenum
PI 230512 OCH 1922 Solanum tuberosum subsp. andigenum
PI 458393 HHCH 4994 Solanum tuberosum subsp. andigenum

All of the diploid accessions I have/ordered are in crossability group 2 (for what that is worth) I still plan to plant the previous accessions just maybe not that many now, just to see what happens.

[billw]

Hey, look at that - you found another one! In combination with the phureja types you already ordered, those should give you a nice broad base to select from. I would cross them all in the first generation and then sow the mixed seed and start looking for what you want.

Crossability groups are USDA-speak for endosperm balance number, so CG2 is 2EBN. I don't know why they do that, although "crossability group" is certainly a more intuitive name than EBN.

[fliver]

Nov 22, 2017 16:43:18 GMT -5 keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) said:

My diploid TPS seed test failed this year, but i will keep trying over the upcoming ones. Hey, before i collaborated with joseph on the watermelon project i had failed growing watermelons like 4-5 years in a row. So just because something fails at first is not a reason to keep trying with it.

Keen, why do you think your diploid tps failed?