Potato Improvement Research
1994
Berga Lemaga | Gebremedhin Woldegiorgis (IAR, Addis Abeba (Ethiopia)) | Teriesa Jaleta
To develop high-yielding and adaptable cultivars with resistance/tolerance to the major stresses, the Ethiopian Potato Improvement Program has evaluated a large number of genotypes in different agro-ecologies. Since 1985, 29 cultivars have been introduced from the Netherlands and evaluated under local conditions, out of which one performed outstandingly well. Several thousand genotypes with different traits have been introduced from the International Potato Centre in the form of clones, tuber families and true potato seeds. Some of these have exhibited satisfactory performances and are now at advanced stages of selection. Variety trials with a different set of cultivars were conducted from 1987-1989 at nine locations and from 1990-1992 at eight locations representing different agro-ecologies. The results showed that the poorest cultivar yielded at least twice and the best ones yielded at least four times than the local check. All were also superior to the local cultivar in their reaction to late blight. The cultivars yielded differently at different locations and also within a location. As a result of these and other trials, three cultivars with wide adaptability have been released and another four are candidates for release in 1993. Parental line evaluation was made in 1988 on 14 hybrids and 11 open-pollinated true potato seed progenies. Most of the progenies produced fairly uniform tubers with average off-season yields of 46 t ha-1 for the hybrid and 31 t ha-1 for the open pollinated. Tuber yields of both the progeny types in the main rainy season were very low because of a heavy late blight attack. Generally, however, more true potato seed research is essential in potato improvement work in Ethiopia.
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This bibliographic record has been provided by Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research