They’re Planting Potatoes With Seed

They’re Planting Potatoes With Seed CROPS Miscellaneous Instead of planting bags of seed potatoes imagine sowing a packet of potato seeds in your garden that yield twice as much as normal After several years of research the Dutch company Solynta may be within a couple years of introducing potato seed for the commercial market The seeds have already exceeded expectations when tested in Africa says Hein Kruyt CEO of the company     He explains potatoes have seeds inside the small tomato-like berries that grow on the plants But the seeds are useless for commercial growers because their size is not consistent     “The core of our discovery is that we found a way to make the seeds exactly the same ” Kruyt says Solynta creates “true hybrids” that are developed by “several rounds of inbreeding and hybrid cultivars are generated by crossing parent lines ”      It’s a traditional breeding approach he notes so the seed is not genetically modified     Though researchers are close they haven’t quite met the necessary thresholds for taste disease resistance and other traits for the commercial market     “The threshold in Africa is significantly lower Potatoes contribute to their well being so we shipped seeds for trials and they did far better than we expected ” Kruyt says     He notes that initially Solynta sent second-rate seeds that were culled from research When the seeds yielded as well as seed potatoes the company sent better seeds that yielded more than three times as much For the trials the seed is started in a seedbed then transplanted     Kruyt notes that potatoes grown from the seeds can be saved and planted for a few years before the yield and quality decrease Starting with fresh seed every 3 to 5 years should maintain good yields     “We are at the beginning of a very exciting journey with the potato Worldwide it’s an amazing plant ” Kruyt says noting that the seed research is unlocking the potato’s potential Being able to ship seeds instead of seed potatoes reduces shipping costs and eliminates rotting and other storage issues     Trials will continue in Africa for another 2 or 3 seasons to test the consistency of the seed performance through drought and different weather     Researchers will continue to work on breeding traits that handle drought heat and salinity for example Within a couple of years the goal is to have seed available for commercial use Kruyt anticipates that organic farmers will be the first to be interested and he welcomes inquiries from growers in North America who are interested in conducting trials     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Solynta ph 011 31 622 416 771; www solynta com; hein kruyt@solynta com

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