DIPLOID F1 HYBRID TPS POTATO BREEDING - PIPELINE AND PROSPECTS

Abstract

Potato is the third most important food crop worldwide. Till date, the potato breeding has been carried out at the tetraploid level, which hampered the genetic studies to decipher the trait genetics. Diploid inbred based hybrid breeding in potatoes provide the opportunity to take advantage of modern breeding methods, tools and genomics resources. The first step in the diploid inbred based hybrid breeding strategy involves identification of elite diploid lines and di-haploids of adapted varieties, followed by introgression of self-compatibility gene (Sli) for  advancing the lines through selfing for few generations. A number of inbred lines from different lineages with more than 95% homozygosity will be generated through selfing. The best heterotic hybrids will be selected through evaluation of inbred lines for general and specific combining ability for tuber and quality traits. Finally, the best hybrid combinations will be evaluated along with commercial tuber-based tetraploid varieties for comparative analysis. Although, the methodology of F1 diploid hybrid TPS based potato breeding has several advantages over conventional tetraploid tuber based approach, a number of challenges need to be overcome to bring this technology at the forefront in the farmers field.