Hybrid and open-pollinated true potato seed production: Some considerations

The possibilities of developing short duration True Potato Seed (TPS) families vis-à-vis potential of their parents to produce TPS were examined by evaluating a number of cultivated potato clones over years for characters relevant to this aspect. Results showed that out of early foliage maturity and early tuber bulking, latter was a better criterion for selecting parents for production of short duration TPS families as unlike early bulkers, early maturing genotypes affected TPS production adversely. Hybrid seed production could be substantially improved by hand pollinating non-emasculated freshly opened flowers (before anther dehiscence) rather than pollinating the emasculated flowers. Profuse flowering genotypes flowered early and also for longer duration. Parental lines/cross-combinations producing bigger berries had more but lighter seeds. Cultivated parental lines with desirable tuber characters for TPS families have the potential to produce large amount of open-pollinated seeds. Parents differed in their general combining ability for success of hybridization. Early tuber bulking had no adverse effect on general combining ability of parents for this character.