Nomenclatural standards and genetic passports of potato cultivars bred by the Tatar Research Institute of Agriculture «Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences»

Abstract

Breeding of potato cultivars adapted to the climatic conditions of the Middle Volga region and resistant to various harmful organisms has always been an urgent task for breeders of the Tatarstan Republic. In the present paper, the potato cultivars bred at the Tatar Research Institute of Agriculture – Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, were taken as an example for demonstrating the results of application and elaboration of methodological approaches that are currently developed at the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR) for the preparing of nomenclatural standards and their genotyping. At the initiative of the VIR researchers in collaboration with the authors of potato cultivars E.A. Gimaeva and Z. Stashevski plant material was collected and nomenclatural standards for potato cultivars bred at the Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences were prepared. Four nomenclatural standards for Tatarstan potato cultivars (‘Zumba’, ‘Kortni’, ‘Reggi’, ‘Samba’) were prepared in accordance with the provisions of the International Code of Nomenclature For Cultivated Plants, registered in the VIR Herbarium Database, and transferred to the VIR herbarium type collection. Besides, voucher specimens of cv. ‘Tango’ and breeding clone ‘Sal’sa’, which is undergoing the State Variety Test at present, were produced. Genetic passports of Tatarstan varieties (‘Zumba’, ‘Kortni’, ‘Reggi’, ‘Samba’) and one breeding clone (‘Sal’sa’)* were developed using DNA samples from plant material transferred by the authors of the cultivars to the VIR herbarium. The genetic passports include information of the polymorphism of eight chromosome-specific microsatellites, data on the presence/ absence of the diagnostic fragments of 15 markers of the 11 R-genes conferring resistance to various harmful organisms and the information about cytoplasm types. A comparison of the data from genetic passports developed using DNA samples from nomenclatural standard specimens with the results of genotyping of 22 samples of Tatarstan cultivars obtained from different sources (e.g., samples undergoing ecogeographic tests within the framework of the Comprehensive Research Plan of the subprogram “Development of potato breeding and seed production in the Russian Federation”; as well as accessions from the VIR in vitro collection) made it possible to assess the authenticity and uniformity of the studied plant material.