Determination of
Reliable Selection Criterias for Early Generations in Potato Breedıng
Mete Kaan BÜLBÜL
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to evaluate the
effectiveness of some visual selection criteria; and, to determine the reliable selection criteria for seedling and
the first clonal generations in potato breeding programs aiming to develop of
high yielding cultivars.
The
hybrid true potato seeds from eleven crossing combinations were obtained with
crossing in Nevsehir during summer season in 2010. The
seedlings from true seeds were grown in greenhouse in Hatay from December 2010 to March 2011 to
obtain seedling generations. Then, one tuber of each seedling was planted into
field in Kayseri in June 2011 to obtain the first clonal generation. In each
generation, some morphological and agronomic traits, which can be used as
selection criteria, were measured on each plant. A Breeder Preference Score
(BPS) on 1-9 scale (1 the worst-9 the best) were also given to each plant based
on their visual appearance before and after harvest. Then, the correlation
coefficients were calculated between measured traits and given BPS in each
generation. The correlation coefficients between BPS of seedling and the first
clonal generation for each hybrid plant were also calculated.
The results indicated that morphological
characteristics of same plant could significantly vary between seedling and
field generations. The selections for even tuber shape and eye depth may be
misleading when the tuber size is very small in the seedling stage. It was
concluded that the threshold level for BPS should be lower in the seedling
stage due to weak correlation between BPS values of seedling and field
generations. 
