Apical rooted cutting is a method to produce potato tuber seeds. This method used in potato tubers production as well. The experiment was conducted to evaluate the differences of potato tuber processing properties between those produced using tuber seeds and apical rooted cuttings in four processing potato varieties. Four main processing characteristics were analysed in the laboratory, were starch content, reducing sugar content, total soluble solid content, and specific gravity. As the result, four processing properties of potato tubers produced from cuttings were similar to those from tuber seeds. Whereas the differences between varieties occurred only in starch content and TSS content. This indicated that raw materials in the potato chips industry can be met by Medians, Spudy, as well Papita, not only Atlantik M. Therefore, apical rooted cuttings can be used as potato seeds in addition to tuber seeds in potato tuber production.

Potato development, especially processing varieties, is constrained by the availability of seeds. Acceleration of seed supply can be done by planting apical rooted cuttings directly in the field to obtain seeds equivalent to extension seeds class. Field activity has been carried out in Brebes Regency, Central Java, in 2021, to study the opportunities for using apical rooted cuttings in the potato seed production. Apical rooted cuttings from seven potato varieties for processing purposes (i.e. AR 08, Spudy, Ventury Agrihorti, Golden Agrihorti, Medians, and Atlantik M) were transplanted in a completely randomized design with 4 replications. Plant growth and tuber production characters were influenced by genotypic factor, indicated by the variation of those characters between varieties. The tuber number per plant ranged from 8.53 (Medians) to 22.80 (Spudy). Meanwhile, the tuber weight per plant was between 215.13 g (Golden Agrihorti) to 702.67 g (Spudy). In this study, Spudy showed the highest growth performance and tuber production compared to the other six varieties. In general, plants grown from apical rooted cuttings produced tuber which is appropriate for seed purposes. It is hoped that the apical rooted cuttings can support the sustainability of potato production, and furthermore, support the domestic potato-based industry.

Drought stress threatens potato production by reducing tuber yield. To maintain the supply of potatoes, potato cultivars that are able to adapt and tolerate to water deficit conditions are needed. The aim of this study was to obtain potato genotypes with high tolerance in the early in-vitro selection by Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) treatment. Fifty-one potato genotypes were used in this in-vitro evaluation, cultured in the MS medium which treated by four level of PEG 6000 to induce the drought stress, namely 0, 30, and 60 g.L-1. The study revealed that in-vitro plants respond to PEG-induced drought stress by reducing their growth and vigour. The decreasing of plantlet vigour and leaves size also observed. At the end of observation, five genotypes performed good vigour at the 60 g.L-1 of PEG 6000, namely CIP 394613.139 × 5.13:1.1, ATL × 3.11:1.7, 2.13 × ATL:1.12.10.3, ATL × 3.11:3.6, and ATL × 3.11:8.14. Those genotypes were indicated tolerant to drought stress and need to be followed up with further evaluation in the green house environment to see the ability of tuberization under controlled water deficit condition.