News potato varieties
A higher yield with innovative potato
It almost sounds too good to be true: 2 million tubers per hectare. The salad potato variety Jacky has to live up to it. This variety has the potential to become a new market leader in the salad potato market. In China, too, an active search is underway for innovative potatoes that can increase yields.
An initial trial harvest shows that the Jacky potato variety is currently on schedule to produce more than 2 million tubers per hectare. Approximately 65% of all tubers are in the 25-35 millimeter size, which yields a result of 50 tons per hectare. This is what Paul Coleman of Crop4Sight reported during the Potato Showcase Week of market agency AHDB. "The variety certainly has the potential (based on the numbers) to become a market leader."
No crop damage
"Jacky is a variety that must consistently produce round tubers of less than 45 millimeters", Archie Gibson, executive director at Agrico, explains in the presentation. "It is therefore a versatile potato. And because it is robust and very round, it rolls well on the conveyor belts and the potato does not tend to suffer crop damage."
Crop4Sight and Agrico conduct joint research into the variety in order to create the highest yield. "This research has already shown that Jacky has a high stem density, which allows the variety to produce a constant number of tubers," says Gibson. "In my opinion, together with the high resistance to certain bacteria, Jacky has the potential to become a very profitable variety. After all, it saves growers just €400 per hectare in costs incurred with spraying."
China is also looking for new potato varieties
Innovative potatoes that can respond to new markets are not only sought after in Europe. This is also the case in China, although there is mainly invested in so-called 'high-tech potatoes'. In 'potato city' Ulangab, potatoes are now grown in a laboratory. Virus-free seedlings are grown by mixing potato stem tips with a sterile nutrient solution. At present, it can produce 150 million virus-free seedlings annually. These seedlings produce thumb size fruits.
These miniature potatoes are called 'growing seeds', from which the potato is grown. The potato growing area in Ulangab last year covered more than 267.000 hectares, which accounts for 8% of the total potato growing area in China. However, this region has the advantage that there is a large temperature difference between day and night, concentrated precipitation falls in the area and that the soil consists of loose soil and soft sand: all factors that are favorable for the growth of the crop. It is therefore unknown how the breeding seeds react under conditions such as in the Netherlands (variable weather: from extreme drought to very wet periods).
It is also a great opportunity for the Chinese government to fight poverty in the country. so got Yang Hongian, a farmer in the village of Lamaban, an interest-free loan of 20.000 yuan with which he could contract 2 greenhouses. A technician from the lab taught Yang to plant the virus-free seedlings, which brought in more than 60.000 yuan ($7.300) in revenue last year. About 44 households have now been engaged to cultivate breeding seeds. The net income of each cashier would amount to at least 15.000 yuan per year.
Kimberly Baker
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