Candidates for potato varieties bred at the Polar Experimental Station VIR

Abstract

The VIR potato doublet collection maintained at the Polar Experimental Station, includes more than 300 intervarietal hybrids created by the branch’s employees. The work on obtaining and evaluating intervarietal hybrids was carried out in the conditions of the Murmansk region from 1985 to 1999. The source material was the doublet world potato collection VIR. We selected samples: 21/8516 and 15/881. Hybrid 21/8516 was obtained by crossing medium–early and early varieties (Isna × Khibinsky early); 15/881 – by crossing medium-late and early varieties (Krostar N × Khibinsky early). The authors of hybrids 21/8516 (conditional name “Severyanin” and 15/881 (conditional name “Katerina”) are: G.D. Melnichuk, E.M. Vasilyeva, S.V. Abakshina, From 2000 to the present, work is underway to maintain and reproduce these samples. The samples differ in early maturity and yield (46,0 t/ha – from the “Severyanin”; 37,8 t/ha – from “Katerina”), large tubers (tuber weight 98-100 g from the hybrid “Katerina”), good taste, resistance to stressful environmental conditions, environmental plasticity. They can be used in addition to those grown in the Murmansk region. Candidate hybrids are recommended for cultivation in the Murmansk Region in addition to existing varieties. Currently, work is underway to transfer these hybrids to state testing and to enter them into the register of potato varieties.