Purpose. To study Ukrainian potato market at the current stage of the development and determine its future prospects. Results. The features of Ukrainian potato market were determined. Production is almost fully provided by private households, meeting the needs of the domestic market. Main regions with the highest gross output and production of potatoes were defined. Ukraine is one of the major potato producing countries in the world. Today our country is not a key supplier or importer of this product because of the low export orientation of the industry, its technological backwardness, limited product range and the large number of small producers. Ukraine exports potato mainly to CIS countries, the highest share of potato import comes from the European Union. Now there are only a few large manufacturing companies in the market, which can be classified as industrial. Most potato varieties, officially permitted for dissemination in Ukraine, are classified as table ones and recommended for cultivation in the Forest-Steppe and Polissia zones. Achievements of the industry include the development of such very popular and promising trend as organic potato growing, which area in our country is one of the largest in the world. Conclusions. Potato produced in Ukraine is used for human consumption, animal feeding, planting and processing, its volumes are relatively stable. Large-scale industrial production of potato is not widely practiced because of low wholesale prices and high labor intensity of the cultivation process. During next few years, in view of current trends, production of potato and severe limitations of the domestic market for foreign operations will remain unchanged. A shift in emphasis in the product range – from fresh potato to processed food products should be a prospect for domestic industrial producers to improve their position in Ukraine and abroad.

Purpose. To develop a conceptually new method for determination of varietal purity (typicality), hybridity, steri­lity of seed lots. Methods of molecular biology (genomic DNA extraction, PCR with SSR markers application, capillary electrophoresis), genetic, statistical, mathematical analysis. Results. New method for determining the varietal qualities of seed lot was developed that consists of the following steps: simultaneous DNA extraction from a representative sample of aggregated seeds; PCR and further analysis of the amplification products by determination of the qualitative and quantitative composition of SSR-markers’ alleles; calculation of values of varietal seed lot quality using experimentally derived allele ratios. Conclusions. The developed method for determining varietal qualities of seed lots allows to reduce significantly the consumption of materials, time and labor during the analysis. Consistent qualification and quantification of alleles in the total sample of a seed lot is a conceptually new approach to establish varietal purity (typicality), hybridity, sterility.