The Creation of a Neotuberosum Population and its Incorporation into a Potato Breeding Program

In 1963, a project was started to shift the short day length adaptation of Andean tetraploid varieties to the long day adaptation of North American varieties. The method followed was recurrent selection. The purpose was to add diversity to the available breeding clones. The initial base for selection came from the Commonwealth Potato Collection of Solanum tuberosum group andigenum. As selection reduced the diversity of original clones, a second introduction from multiple sources was integrated. Essentially ten cycles of selection were achieved in 20 years. In that period it was possible to test for resistance to various diseases such as late blight, scab, cyst nematodes, and viruses PVX and PVY. Gradually the emphasis shifted to making hybrids of the long day adapted clones (neotuberosum) with tuberosum varieties. In the next two decades, the earliest variety releases were generally marginally successful. The first significant release was Eva in 1999. Now three more have been named and three are in the process of release. It has been a satisfying 56 years.