Screening the U.S. potato collection for frost hardiness

Abstract

Potato is one of the most important world vegetables with respect to value of production and nutritional impact. Frost susceptibility reduces or precludes production on millions of hectares worldwide. In contrast to disease and pest problems, cultural or chemical treatments are not likely to be helpful in combating frost, so genetic improvement must be sought. Fortunately, wild relatives of the cultivated potato have been shown to exhibit frost tolerance far superior to that of cultivated species. In this research, over 2,600 accessions representing 101 species in the US potato collection at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin were visually screened after natural frosts in a uniform field in 1992. This provided a more comprehensive survey of germplasm accessions, further characterized species’ hardiness and intraspecific variation. The most hardy species wereSolanum acaule, S. albicans, S. commersonii, andS. demissum. An additional previously unreported extremely frost hardy species (Solanum paucissectum) was discovered. This information should expand the insights and germplasm options available to those intent on breeding desirable varieties with high levels of frost hardiness.