Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Maria's
Ozette
5
1710
To-Le-AK
Long-day adaptation
Long-day adaptation
1570
1
Mexican
cultivars
2
Andean
origin
Andean
Andigena
3
4
C
hilean
Chilean
Tuberosum
origin
Fig. 1.3.
The potato's journey from the New World (South America) to the Old World (Europe) and back to
North America.
progenitor, Early Rose, showed late blight resist-
ance. Furthermore, it is proven that crosses util-
izing pollen from Group Andigena led to sterile
male progeny (Vilaró
et al
., 1989). This feature
would limit the breeding pool severely, since only
Andigena pollen would be available to pollinate
male sterile progeny, leading to a conversion of
the cytoplasm to a T-type, regardless of better
day-length adaptation afforded by genes in the
first release at present-day values (Best, 1870;
Burbank, 1914).
The production of new varieties was the
sole province of the private breeder in the late
1800s to early 1900s. The science of disease re-
sistance was inadequate, and the explanation of
decline in performance and vigor in seedstock
was unavailable to the horticulturalist. The
introduction of new varieties occurred at a rapid
pace. Where controlled crosses were undertaken,
a study of the parentage was often illustrative,
but some breeders simply kept open-pollinated
berries from the field. The occasional introduc-
tion of potatoes from South America was unproduct-
ive, due to their adaptation to short days during
the growing season, which made intercrossing
among existing cultivars superior.
A collection of tuber-bearing
Solanum
species was kept and grown at the Edinburgh
Botanic Garden in Scotland. Late blight had not
subsided after the Irish Potato Famine and con-
tinued be a serious disease wherever potato crops
were grown. In 1911, a late blight epidemic swept
through the botanic garden, killing all the pota-
toes, wild and domestic, except for a few acces-
sions from Mexico. It was discovered the clones
that survived were derivatives of wild species
named
Solanum demissum
(
Solanum
×
edinense
)
(Salaman, 1949).
Breeding and cultivating
new varieties
By the 1800s, a number of potato breeders
existed, contributing to the development of nu-
merous varieties of potato with narrow genetic
parentage. One of the first people to take on
directed breeding of the potato crop was Knight,
in 1807 (Knight, 1807; Glendinning, 1983).
The science of Gregor Mendel's genetics would
not be dusted off until the early 20th century.
Emerging from varietal development was a
competitive potato sales environment, where
purveyors of seed and commercial growers vied
for recognition and market share, and a bushel
of seed of a new variety could cost US$900 on
