Phenotypic yield and its structure variability of moderately late and late potato cultivars

Abstract

The breeding of new potato cultivars of a given earliness group is closely related to the knowledge of the range of variability and interdependence of traits in a given year and between years. The research results were based on the field experience conducted in 2010–2012, in Central-Eastern Poland (51°34'N, 23°02'E), on lessive, slightly acidic soil. The experiment was carried out in a randomized block design in triplicate. Seventeen medium late and late potato cultivars were tested. Agronomic and plant protection treatments were carried out following the principles of good agricultural practice. The variability of potato economic characteristics was assessed through variance analysis, variance component analysis, cluster analysis, and principal component analysis (PCA). The years of research (52.5–94.6%) have played a dominant role in the phenotypic variability of general yield, commercial and seed yield, and their structure. The genetic factor was from 1.3 to 24.1%, and the interaction of the cultivar × years – from 3.1 to 61.7% of the variance share in the total variance. The analysis of the main components has identified four groups of cultivars with specific properties. They can be used in the decision-making system of breeding the new potato creations.