International Potato Center

About: International Potato Center is a facility organization based out in Lima, Peru. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Phytophthora infestans. The organization has 1036 authors who have published 1460 publications receiving 47183 citations.

Characterization of the genetic diversity of Uganda’s sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) germplasm using microsatellites markers

Abstract: Knowledge about the genetic diversity and structure of crop cultivars can help make better conservation decisions, and guide crop improvement efforts. Diversity analysis using microsatellite markers was performed to assess the level of genetic diversity in sweet potato in Uganda, and evaluate the genetic relationship between the Uganda’s germplasm and some genotypes obtained from Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Brazil and Peru. A total of 260 sweet potato cultivars were characterized using 93 microsatellite loci. The Ugandan collection showed a large number of distinct landraces, and very low (3 %) levels of genetic diversity between genotypes obtained from the different agro-ecological zones. There was low (6 %) levels of genetic diversity observed between the East African genotypes; however unique alleles were present in collections from the various sources. Pairwise comparisons of genetic differentiation indicated that Uganda’s germplasm was significantly different (P < 0.001) from cultivars from Tanzania, Ghana, Brazil and Peru. The presence of unique alleles in populations from various Uganda’s agro-ecological zones and other global regions, as well as the regional diversity patterns, suggest that efforts should be made to further collect and characterize the germplasm in more depth.

Putting diverse farming households’ preferences and needs at the centre of seed system development:

Abstract: Over recent decades international agricultural research has shown that it can generate agricultural technologies with benefits for societies in the Global South that outstrip the investments many t...

Extreme salinity as a challenge to grow potatoes under Mars-like soil conditions: targeting promising genotypes.

Abstract: One of the future challenges to produce food in a Mars environment will be the optimization of resources through the potential use of the Martian substratum for growing crops as a part of bioregenerative food systems. In vitro plantlets from 65 potato genotypes were rooted in peat-pellets substratum and transplanted in pots filled with Mars-like soil from La Joya desert in Southern Peru. The Mars-like soil was characterized by extreme salinity (an electric conductivity of 19.3 and 52.6 dS m−1 under 1 : 1 and saturation extract of the soil solution, respectively) and plants grown in it were under sub-optimum physiological status indicated by average maximum stomatal conductance <50 mmol H2O m−2 s−1 even after irrigation. 40% of the genotypes survived and yielded (0.3–5.2 g tuber plant−1) where CIP.397099.4, CIP.396311.1 and CIP.390478.9 were targeted as promising materials with 9.3, 8.9 and 5.8% of fresh tuber yield in relation to the control conditions. A combination of appropriate genotypes and soil management will be crucial to withstand extreme salinity, a problem also important in agriculture on Earth that requires more detailed follow-up studies.