The improvement of some local potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) variety and promising clones with combination breeding

Aim of the present study was to select clones with superior characteristics among variation created by crossing some commercial registered potato varieties, local potato varieties and some previous clone selections. The research was carried out in two stages in Tokat / Artova and Tokat / Kazova conditions between 2014 and 2017. Crossing was made on a total of 1 813 flowers in seven combinations for the first stage. A total of 26 418 hybrid true potato seeds were produced from 442 fruits formed by these crosses. At the second stage, clonal selection was started in field conditions following seedling generation. For the seedling generation, 9 630 true hybrid potato seeds were planted and 8 683 seedlings produced with an emergence rate of 90.2% were transplanted. Of these, 3 316 clones were selected and advanced to field generation. In the first clonal selection stage, data were obtained from each clone about phenotypic characteristics such as breeder preference, plant habitus, maturity group, tuber defects, skin roughness, skin and tuber flesh color as well as tuber number per hill, tuber yield per hill, average tuber weight, depth of eye and stolon end. It was decided to move to other selection stages with 918 clones selected based on criteria in the first clonal selection step. Correlation analyses were done among selection criterias used in the first clonal generation, and associations between characteristics were determined. It was concluded that selection based on breeder preferences and marketable phenotypic properties related to marketing was reliable.