Extra Soil Fertilization of Mother Plants Increases Botanical Seed Yield But Not Long-Term Germination in Wild Solanum (potato) Species

Potato has about 100 wild species relatives that are multiplied in the form of botanical seed populations by genebanks, and distributed for use in research and breeding, so factors that affect long term seed germination are of interest. In 1987 the US Potato Genebank conducted routine seed multiplication on 127 populations of 31 species as greenhouse-grown potted plants. Half of the parent plants in each population were given two doses of liquid fertilizer in addition to the standard slow-release granular fertilizer which had been mixed into the medium for all plants. Plants with this extra liquid fertilizer application grew larger, and produced significantly more fruit and seeds. However, seeds from parents fertilized extra did not have improved seed weight or germination after 26 years of storage. We conclude that optimizing the fertilizer regime used on parent plants, while doubling the average seed yield, does not result in higher quality seeds.