This spud's for you: A breeding revolution could unleash the potential of potato

[Judi Lynn]

Diverse potatoes, such as these from Peru, will help breeders create resilient new varieties. JIM RICHARDSON/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

By Erik Stokstad Feb. 7, 2019 , 2:00 PM

THE SACRED VALLEY OF THE INCAS IN PERU—On a bleak, brown hill here, David Ellis examines a test plot of potato plants and shakes his head. "They're dead, dead, dead," he says. Pests and lack of rain have laid waste to all 17 varieties that researchers had planted.

It is a worrying sign for Ellis, the now-retired director of the gene bank at the International Potato Center (CIP) in Lima. People have grown potatoes in this rugged stretch of the Andes for thousands of years. In recent years, that task has gotten tougher, in part because of climate change. Drought and frost are striking more often. The rains come later, shortening the growing season. And warmer temperatures have allowed moths and weevils to encroach from lower elevations.

To find potatoes that can cope with those challenges, researchers and Peruvian farmers are testing dozens of the 4350 locally cultivated varieties, or landraces, kept in CIP's refrigerated storage. The plants in this plot fell short. "Native landraces evolved over time," Ellis says. But, he says, climate change is happening "too fast for these varieties to adapt."

In Peru and around the world, enhancing the potato has become a high priority. It is the most important food crop after wheat and rice. Potatoes are already a staple for 1.3 billion people, and the nutritious tubers are becoming increasingly popular in the developing world. Keeping up with the demand means adapting the potato to various soils and climates. It must also resist new threats from pests, disease, heat, and drought.

More:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/02/spud-s-you-breeding-revolution-could-unleash-potential-potato

Environment and energy:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127123548

[safeinOhio]

1. Selective breeding.

All we hear about is GMO. Glad they maintaining the gene pool.
Thanks for the post.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. There are similar centers for corn in Mexico, beans in Africa, and rice in the Phillipines ...

glad someone is doing this. The US is conspicious by its absence.