Identifying superior parents in a potato breeding program using cross prediction techniques

Abstract

Cross prediction techniques were applied to data collected from over 600 hybrid combinations of potato (Solanum tuberosum) and analyzed to determine the potential of using early generation cross prediction techniques to identify superior parental clones. Performance of parental lines based on parameters collected in early generations were compared with the observed frequencies of desirable recombinants with a common parent in the latter stages of a breeding program. Results showed that value of parents, in their ability to produce desirable recombinants in breeding programs, can be predicted using univariate cross prediction techniques. This type of information can be available from early generation progeny trials and could easily be incorporated into a practical potato breeding scheme.