History of Potato Breeding: Improvement, Diversification, and Diversity

The potato is an important crop in the world economy and has received a lot of attention with regard to genetic improvement for different crop uses. Many varieties worldwide have been released for table purposes as well as for processing needs. The crop reproductive biology, its tetrasomic inheritance and asexual reproduction complicate the genetic enhancement and improvement of the crop. Many pests and diseases and changing market needs require more trait mining to search for donor lines to develop desirable plant types in the potato. The large species diversity and crop gene pool offer an advantage for the use of wild species in the crop improvement. Along with higher productivity, the focus nowadays is on improved nutritional quality characteristics. Potato varieties suited to sub-tropical and tropical climates with greater heat and drought tolerance are required. There is more and more demand for different type of potatoes suited to various needs of the consumers and markets. The recent genomics advances and availability of the potato genome sequence will provide new avenues to unravel and decipher the complex traits for enhanced productivity and improved quality.