b'Stefaniak,ourbreedingspecialist,and diploid and tetraploid potatoes.our seed yield. has been funded by Area II and NPPGA. Ourlong-termplansfortheSPRF Our FY1 is our first chance to assess newWeareworkingwithpotatobreeders includediseasenurseriesforscaband clonesinourbreedingprogram.Weacross the US and the world to breed verticillium wilt. The first step is devel- grew out 26,000 single hills from crossesdiploid potatoes which will allow us to oping infected soil. Last year we grew fromtheUniversityofMaine,Northrespond more quickly to changes in the highly susceptible plants and integrated DakotaStateUniversity,TexasA&Menvironmentandconsumerdemand. them back into the soil upon harvest. University,andtheUniversityofThe first step of this process has been We are repeating that step this year. We Colorado as well as our own breedingdeveloping diploid lines we can use as were thrilled to have Dr. Ashish Ranjan, program. Of these single hills 36% areparentsbycrossingcommonlygrown a new professor in plant pathology, join russets,34%arereds,22%arechips,potato lines to a diploid inducer. We are the project this winter. Dr. Ranjan will and 8% are specialty. We will use visualgrowing these preliminary parent lines monitor the spread of pathogen in the evaluation at harvest to select approxi-this summer to assess traits of impor- soil and susceptible plants. This project mately 1% of them to continue on intanceanddecidewhichonesarethe is sponsored by PepsiCo. the breeding program. most promising parents. NorthCentralResearchand FY2 is planted in 12 hill plots from theMuyideen Yusuf, a Ph.D. student in the OutreachCenter,GrandRapids selections from 2020s FY1. It containslab,isleadingthisUSDANIFASCRI Minnesota 278 clones. Of these 51% are chips, 28%funded project (https://potatov2.github TheNCROCistheseedlocationand are russet, 15% are red, and 6% are spe-.io/).Additionally, Husain Agha, anoth- earlygenerationselectionsiteforthe cialty. These will also be selected basederPh.D.studentinthelab,isusing breedingprogram.Notablyoverthe onvisualevaluation,andselectedthesediploidstoevaluatehowthe pastyearwehaveaddedcapacityfor clones will be assessed for specific grav-genetics behind essential traits differs in irrigation, which we expect to improve ity and chip/fry color and genotyped.JULY/AUGUST 2021 POTATO GROWER 21'