In vivo performance of hi-tech planting materials for seed potato production: A review

Abstract

The production of healthy seed is very crucial to sustain the production and productivity of potato. Traditionally used conventional seed potato production system leads to lower multiplication rate, have bulkiness of seed tubers and encourages accumulation of tuber borne viruses, fungi and bacteria in subsequent seasons leading to significant losses in quality and tuber yield over seasons. Hi-tech seed production systems based on micro-propagation technologies improves the quality of breeder seed, enhance seed multiplication rate and reduce field exposure of seed crop. Under this system, there are three different type of seed production systems viz micropant, microtuber and aeroponic based. The major components of hi-tech seed production include development of healthy mother plants, followed by mass multiplication of healthy mericlones through in vitro micropropagation which is used for microtuber/aeroponic production, minituber production from microtubers/aeroponic tubers or directly from micro-plants under protected conditions (G-0) followed by two field multiplication for production of prebasic and basic seed potatoes. Growth (emergence, plant height, compound leaves and stems) and yield parameters (mean tuber weight and yield by number and weight) varied as per hi-tech planting materials viz microplant, microtuber and aeroponic tuber, crop husbandry, genetic background/cultivar and size of planting materials used for minituber production under in vivo (G-0) in different agro climatic systems.