Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
potato chips and French fries. The need to select
for an attractive russeted skin in oblong-shaped
potatoes suitable for French fries is highly limit-
ing in the full range of expression of other traits,
including total yield and specified size categories.
In modern breeding, the desire to maintain
genetic diversity for heterosis and vigor in sexual
progeny has prevailed. A number of strategies
have been developed to inject exotic alleles into
the breeding process. The Neotuberosum breeding
strategy was extracted from the Central Andean
short-day adapted gene pool and selected recurrently
for long-day adapted maturity (Glendinning,
1975). Sexual polyploidization by use of 2n pollen-
producing diploids gave convenient access to
cultivated and wild diploid species (Mendiburu
and Peloquin, 1977). However, by the late 20th
century, the breeding pool from which new var-
ieties were emerging was still remarkably depau-
perate (Mendoza and Haynes, 1974). While efforts
have been made in the last
70
years to expand
the germplasm of the potato, the active breeding
pool remains restricted and closely related, lead-
ing to the inability to maximize heterozygosity
and increase yield.
The last few decades in India and China have
seen potato production emerge as a significant
engine of development. India and China are now
the first and third largest producers of potato in
the world, respectively. The density of potato
production of the world has shifted down the
mountain and into hotter production zones.
In China, the potato is considered a major player
in future increases in food supply. Up until 2005,
the potato in China was subsidized, yet today
farmers are exempt from paying taxes on their
earnings. In
Fig. 1.5
, the trends of production
are shown over the past
40
years. By 2010,
China was producing 23% of the world's pota-
toes, while contributing 18% of the world's
population. Production in China and India has
increased steeply year after year, while in the
USA it has stagnated (Walker
et al
., 1999; Scott
and Suarez, 2012).
1.4 Summary
Seven thousand years ago, pastoral hunter-
gatherer families discovered a subterranean root
with immediate appeal for a population that,
until then, struggled to consume sufficient cal-
ories to sustain an active lifestyle. On the intro-
duction of the potato to each new culture,
350
80
70
300
60
250
50
200
40
150
30
100
20
50
10
0
1970
0
1980
1990
2000
2010
World
China
India
USA
Fig. 1.5.
Production statistics from China, India, and the USA illustrate the changing paradigms of potato
utilization. While China and India reflect steep increases in potato production, the USA presents a
relatively static pattern. By 2010, China was producing 23% of the world's potatoes, while contributing
18% of the world's population. (Reproduced with permission from FAOSTAT, Rome, Italy, 2013.)
