SOME INTERESTING ASPECTS OF POTATO BREEDING IN EUROPE

New cultivars are being developed in Europe by over 300 potato breeders growing each year about 11 million first year seedlings.
In most countries potato breeding is being organized or strongly supported from public means.

The breeding objectives are diverse.
Cultivars have to be adapted to various types of utilization: direct human consumption, industrial processing or feeding animals.
They have also to be adapted to various soil types and technologies of production.
Of major importance is resistance to nematodes, viruses, late blight, storage diseases and scab.

Considerable progress of potato breeding may be noted recently in several important characters, but still in some countries with advanced agriculture very old cultivars are popular.

It is probable that progress in potato breeding will be speeded up if more attention is paid to parental line breeding.
The chance of increased international cooperation in this area has been discussed.

Recent and Future Developments of the Potato in the World

K.M. Swiezynski

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1987.213.6