http://dx.doi.org/10.19103/AS.2016.0016.04 © Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing Limited, 2016. All rights reserved. Hybrid potato breeding for improved varieties Pim Lindhout, Michiel de Vries, Menno ter Maat, Su Ying, Marcela Viquez-Zamora and Sjaak van Heusden, Solynta, the Netherlands 1 Introduction 2 The scientific basis for hybrid potato breeding 3 The state of the art of hybrid potato breeding 4 Production of and commercialization of hybrid seed cultivars 5 Inbred lines for genetic research 6 Cropping systems based on true seeds 7 Case studies 8 Conclusion 9 Where to look for further information 10 Acknowledgements 11 References 1 Introduction The cultivated potato, Solanum tuberosum, can be reproduced generatively through seeds and vegetatively through tubers. This may have evolutionary advantages: seeds may provide better survival under extreme conditions, such as frost or drought, and can remain viable in the soil for years. When conditions are mild, tubers survive in a dormant state for a couple of months. When conditions become favourable again, their fast and strong sprouting provides a clear competitive advantage over other plants in the same ecological niche. In traditional potato breeding, each breeding cycle starts with a cross between two genotypes, usually tetraploid varieties, followed by many years of selection and multiplication (see Chapters 2 and 3). The advantage of this approach is uniformity: the tubers are clones and thus genetically identical. The disadvantage is the low genetic gain in each lengthy breeding cycle, as the genetic composition of the two parental genotypes is just reshuffled, including alleles which negatively affect plant growth and development. As a result, potato yield has not significantly been improved over the past century (Douches Chapter 4_potatoes vol 1.indd 1 Chapter 4_potatoes vol 1.indd 1 26-09-2016 12:47:09 26-09-2016 12:47:09