Evaluating the Performance of Potato Genotypes Across Diverse Climatic Conditions

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a globally important crop plant producing high yields of nutritionally valuable food in the form of tubers. Growing conditions across Pakistan are not uniform and it is important to dissect the genotype by environment interaction to identify the material suited to a particular environment. In this study, fifteen potato genotypes, namely FD49-28, FD3-10, FD1-8, SH-19, SH-90, SH-330, SH-80, SH-95, SH-216A, and SH-103, along with standard varieties SH-5, Cardinal, and Diamant, were evaluated for their adaptability across four different locations in Pakistan during the autumn season of 2019-20 and typical agronomic practices were performed and a number of parameters including tuber yield were assessed. Results for tuber grades indicated that the genotypes FD3-10, SH-5, and SH-216A demonstrated better performance. Furthermore, the genotypes FD8-1 and FD1-10 showed a higher level of tolerance to tuber diseases, indicating their potential for disease resistance in potato cultivation. Regarding tuber yield, SH-216A and FD49-28 were the top-performing genotypes, achieving significantly higher yields of 27 t/ha and 26.2 t/ha, respectively, when compared to the other varieties, including the standard ones. The material evaluated and information provided can be used to improve production methods for the industry.