European or US specifications. But they are uniform enough to be sold on the African, south-east Asian and central American markets.
Dutch on-farm trials Bejo tested Oliver F1 with growers in the Netherlands, with the young plants being first cultivated in the greenhouse, before being planted out in fields. The plant needs time to become established, explains Bejo Zaden crop manager Rien van Bruchem, which takes five to 10 days. Once the plant has become established, things start to move quickly, as the company says true seed potatoes are fast-growing. “The yield is lower than what we are used to in the Netherlands, averaging at about 45-55t/ ha,” adds Mr Van Bruchem. Bejo is continuing to develop true potato
It is the result of 15 years of development, as
the company has worked to reduce variability. Cultivated potatoes are tetraploid, which means they have four copies of DNA and this results in the offspring inheriting a greater diversity of genes. In contrast, seed potatoes are clones – identical to the parent plant. Potatoes grown from true seed are,
therefore, not uniform enough to meet strict
seed, including other varieties, and is currently investigating whether it can speed up germination using priming techniques (pre- germination of seed). “We are also testing prilled seed in order to
make the fine potato seed suitable for use in conventional seeders already on farms,” says Mr Van Bruchem.
Could seed replace tubers? As mentioned before, potatoes produced from true seed are not suited to European markets. In addition, the climate in Europe is too
True potato seed is easier to store and transport than traditionally-used seed tubers
cold. “In our climate, potato seed is barely capable of germinating outdoors, as the soil temperature is too low. “For that reason, you need to sow the seed
in a greenhouse and then move the plants outdoors once they start to germinate.” This makes it too expensive in Europe because of the large amount of manual labour involved in establishing the crop. While the company does not see true seed
potatoes replacing seed tubers in Europe, it may affect seed potato exports. “In due course, true seed potatoes will
become a factor in Africa and Asia and that, in turn, may have an effect on exports of seed potatoes to those continents.” However, Mr Van Bruchem adds that is still a long way off.
The pros and cons of growing potatoes from true seed
Potato growers need good-quality stock to achieve high-yielding crops and this is more difficult to achieve with seed potatoes than when using true seed. However, true seed is more variable,
creating uniformity issues that would not meet specifications in European markets. Here are the pros and cons of using true seed.
Pros ✔Much less susceptible to disease than seed potatoes ✔Seed can be supplied year round. Farmers can, therefore, establish a crop at any time of the year, whereas the supply of seed potatoes is seasonal ✔True seed is much easier to store and transport. To establish 1ha, you would need 2.5t of potatoes or 60g of true seed ✔Faster to get new varieties in to market, offering farmer benefits sooner
Cons ✖ Uniformity is lower, due to genetic variability ✖ Need higher temperatures to establish seed, so glasshouses needed in colder climes such as in Europe ✖ Longer growing season
▶ FUTURE FARMING | 9 November 2017 31
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