Maintenance of potato varieties in <i>in vitro</i> and field collections of the Russian Potato Research Centre

Abstract

The main biological feature of potato varieties is vegetative reproduction. This mode of reproduction can be associated with problems due to the physiological ageing of the crop and the accumulation of specific pathogens causing reduced tuber yields. In order to avoid these problems, potato seed production widely uses modern biotechnological methods. The use of meristemic technologies allows preserving the identity of the biomaterial in the process of maintaining the potato collection in vitro, but even under these conditions there is a threat that modifications of individual economically valuable traits may get fixed. In potato varieties, such non-heritable deviations manifest themselves in the form of a shift in phenophases and the period of tubers ripening. The use of modern high-tech methods of varietal resources storage implemented on the basis of biotechnological approaches, makes it possible to maintain high quality of biomaterial. At the same time, mobility and practicality remain the main criteria for the effectiveness of different storage methods, depending on the extent to which they can be used in practice. In this review, the collection of varieties at Russian Potato Research Center is used as an example for considering the main stages of the formation and functioning of a modern Bank of Healthy Potato Varieties (BHPV), which supplies various regions of the Russian Federation with high-quality phytopathogen-free potato varieties.