Evaluating the Drought Tolerance of Seven Potato Varieties on Volcanic Ash Soils in a Medium-Term Trial

Abstract

One of the main factors limiting the productivity of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) is water stress. Two irrigation systems: full irrigation (I) and rainfed conditions (R), were compared over the growing seasons from 2012–13 to 2019–20. The evaluated varieties were Desiree, Karú-INIA, Patagonia-INIA, Puyehue-INIA, Yagana-INIA, Yaike, and Porvenir. This study determined (i) the yield and tuber size distribution, (ii) their relationship between productivity and environmental conditions, and (iii) the most drought-tolerant varieties based on drought tolerance indices. Nine indices including yield index (YI), tolerance index (TOL), mean productivity (MP), geometric mean productivity (GMP), harmonic mean (Harm), stress tolerance index (STI), harmonic mean productivity (HMP), yield reduction (Yr), and stress susceptible index (SSI) were calculated by using tuber yield under I and R conditions. Tuber yield under R conditions decreased by 27 and 34%. However, the highest yield under R conditions occurred in years with more precipitation between 60 and 120 days after planting (DAP; ±60 mm). Under R conditions, the varieties Porvenir, Patagonia-INIA, Yaike, and Puyehue-INIA showed more tolerance to water stress. Water stress negatively affected tuber size distribution, reducing the production of tubers with size >65 mm by 50–60%. The best indices to study drought tolerance were TOL, MP, GMP, Harm, STI, and HMP. This study suggests that in southern Chile, an area with big yield potential, typically cultivated as rainfed, with cool temperate climate conditions and favorable soil properties for potatoes, as Andisols, available rainfall is still a constraint for yield. Therefore, using more water stress-tolerant varieties and providing supplementary irrigation between 60 and 120 DAP are critical to optimize yield and avoid the failure of the crop in years with remarkably low precipitations, which will be more pronounced in the future according to weather trends. These results exemplify how much we can lose in productivity in rainfed conditions even in one of the most favorable areas for growing potatoes in the world and how risky this situation can be for the performance of the potato farms in the future.

Genome-wide genetic architecture for plant maturity and drought tolerance in diploid potatoes

“…Climate change is predicted to drastically impact crop productivity in the next decades ( Dietz et al, 2021 ; Gervais et al, 2021 ; Hill et al, 2021 ; Nasir and Toth, 2022 ). Until recently, breeding for potato drought resistance has not been a priority objective in potato breeding, and only a limited number of drought-resistant potato varieties have been available ( Sprenger et al, 2016 ; Martinez et al, 2021 ). By taking advantage of a mutagenized diploid potato collection we had previously developed ( Somalraju et al, 2018 ), a germplasm panel of 384 clones was phenotyped for maturity and drought-tolerance traits in the field conditions, and GWAS were conducted.…”

“…Hence, root length and volume, plant stem-type canopy, and leaf-type canopy characteristics have been reported as key water stress coping traits ( Lahlou and Ledent, 2005 ; Schittenhelm et al, 2006 ; Aliche et al, 2018 ). Nonetheless, up until recently, breeding for drought resistance had not been a hot spot breeding objective per se , and potato varieties that are resistant to drought are currently limited ( Sprenger et al, 2016 ; Martinez et al, 2021 ). Thus, with climate change and its predicted frequent episodes of high temperature ( Dietz et, al., 2021 ) and drought ( Sreeparvathy and Srinivas, 2022 ), potato growers will face increased challenges to achieving their predicted yield goals if new climate-adapted potato cultivars are not developed.…”

Construction of drought stress regulation networks in potato based on SMRT and RNA sequencing data

“…A drought tolerant tetraploid potato “Désirée ”[ 45 , 49 ], provided by Southwest University, was used in this study. In 2 weeks old vitro plantlets of about 10 cm were transferred and stablished into hydroponic solution (1/4 Hoagland nutrient solution) for 1 week at 22/18 °C (16 h light / 8 h dark), then the materials were divided into two parts, one for control and the other for drought stress treatment to simulate the drought stress as reported by different authors, which were treated with 20% polyethylene glycol (PEG)-6000 [ 25 , 48 , 76 ].…”

Effect of Drought and Seed Tuber Size on Agronomical Traits of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) under In Vivo Conditions

“…In potatoes, the drought stress may result in delayed or prolonged emergence and may also alter the time and duration of developmental stages (vegetative growth, flowering, tuber initiation, tuber bulking, maturity). Moreover, drought may cause significant tuber loss, with decreased tuber quality [9][10][11].…”