Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is the third most important crop species worldwide. Due to its tetraploidy and its low multiplication coefficient, the genetic gain of potato is low compared to other crops. With genomic selection (GS), it will be possible to select genotypes based on molecular marker information that are superior not only for monogenically inherited traits, e.g. disease resistances, but also quantitatively inherited traits, such as starch yield and bruising.

To use GS successfully and efficiently, however, certain genomic resources are required that are not yet available for potato: a reference sequence for a cultivated tetraploid clone and a SNP array adapted to the European potato gene pool. In addition, there is still a need for optimization with regard to the statistical methods and models to be used as well as how to integrate GS into the potato breeding process. These prerequisites will be created in the potato projects of our institute.

Potato projects:

• Potato denovo
• PotatoTools