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- Impact of hybrid potato | The future of hybrid potato from a systems perspective (2023)
- Responsible Innovation in Plant Breeding: The Case of Hybrid Potato Breeding (2023)
- Converting Hybrid Potato Breeding Science into Practice
- Optimal plot dimensions for performance testing of hybrid potato in the field. Potato Research (2021)
- Transplanting hybrid potato seedlings at increased densities enhances tuber yield and shifts tuber size distributions. Potato Research
- Crop cycle length determines optimal transplanting date from seedlings from Hybrid true ptoato seed. Potato Research (2021)
- Crucial factors for the feasibility of commercial hybrid breeding in food crops | publication in Nature Plants on 05 May 2022
- Little heterosis found in Diploid Hybrid Potato | The genetic underpinnings of a new hybrid crop
- Neofunctionalisation of the Sli gene leads to self-compatibility and facilitates precision breeding in potato
- Potato futures: impact of hybrid variety – Report of an online conference held on November 30 2020 in Doorn, The Netherlands
- Hilling of Transplanted Seedlings from Novel Hybrid True Potato Seeds Does Not Enhance Tuber Yield but Can Affect Tuber Size Distribution
- Augmented descriptions of growth and development stages of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) grown from different types of planting material
- Innovation and the commons: lessons from the governance of genetic resources in potato breeding
- Solyntus, the New Highly Contiguous Reference Genome for Potato (Solanum Tuberosum)
- QTL detection in a pedigreed breeding population of diploid potato
- De aardappel heeft de toekomst – Drie scenario’s over de hybride aardappel en de wereldvoedselvoorziening
- Introgression of Genes for Resistance against Phytophthora infestans in Diploid Potato
- Contribution and Stability of Yield Components of Diploid Hybrid Potato
- Understanding Genetic Load in Potato for Hybrid Diploid Breeding
- Opportunities and challenges for hybrid potatoes in East Africa
- Hybrid potato breeding: a framework for mapping contested socio-technical futures
- The New Potato – Breeders seek a breakthrough to help farmers facing an uncertain future
- QTL mapping in diploid potato by using selfed progenies of the cross S. tuberosum x S. chacoense
- Hybrid potato breeding for improved varieties
- Chorophyll fluorescence imaging reveals genetic variation and loci for a photosynthetic trait in diploid potato
- The potential of hybrid potato for East-Africa
- Towards F1 Hybrid Seed Potato Breeding
benefits htps
World population is increasing, and climate change means it’s harder than ever for farmers in some places to grow a good crop.
Potatoes have the potential to help solve these problems – they are more nutritious, cheaper, healthier, and need less water to grow than any other staple crop. They are also widely are grown and eaten almost everywhere.
However, potatoes have long been held back. There are two main reasons for this:
- Potatoes can still only be grown using bulky, perishable, contaminated, and degenerated seed-tubers rather than from true seeds like most other crops.
- Due to potatoes’ complex genetic structure, breeding new varieties is next to impossible. While the yields for a lot of other crops like tomato, cucumber peppers, corn, and sugarbeet have increased, the difficulty of breeding potatoes means that potato yields have barely increased.
Potatoes high susceptibility and vulnerability to diseases also means they require heavy pesticide use or have high risk of losing the crop.
Solynta’s new breeding technology will help to solve these problems.
Solynta Hybrid-True-Seeds instead of seed tubers
Traditionally, farmers have grown potatoes using seed tubers rather than true seeds, but these tubers are heavy, degenerated, contaminated with diseases and perishable, as well as being a logistical nightmare.
In contrast, a single water bottle of Solynta’s disease-free true seeds can produce as many potatoes as a truck full of tubers. True seeds are easier to ship, easier to store, clean/disease free and non-perishable.
Goal directed breeding is finally possible in potatoes
We can increase yields by exploiting what is known as ‘hybrid vigour’ – put simply, if we breed potatoes carefully, the offspring is better than the parents. Research shows that we can increase yields by more than 30% in the developed world and we can more than double the yields in the developing world.
By combining existing varieties of potato, we can quickly use beneficial potato traits from one variety and put them to use in another variety, and so bred varieties which have better taste, or higher nutritional value.
We can also breed new varieties which maximize naturally existing resistances against pests and diseases. This will reduce pesticide use by more than 60%, saving the farmer time and money, as well as being a blessing for our planet.
In short, increased disease pressure and climate change can now be tackled using Solynta’s fast and efficient breeding technology. Yields can increase and fewer people will go hungry. Together we are convinced that these benefits will unlock the true potential of potatoes.
