Impact of parental forms on the phenotypic performance characteristics in the progeny of some Ukrainian potato varieties and lines

Aim. To evaluate the impact of parental forms on phenotypic performance characteristics in the progeny of some Ukrainian potato varieties and lines, to determine the most profitable crossings in terms of breeding for higher yield and product quality. Methods. Field experiments, laboratory analysis, statistical methods. The study involved 973 clones obtained by 85 crossings using 15 potato varieties of ukrainian breeding. The parental material was produced in the laboratory of potato breeding at the Polissia Experimental Department of the Institute for Potato Research, the NAAS using sexual seed. Results. When female source material of the Ukrainian varieties Javelina, Mezhyrichka 11, Predslava, Sontsedar, Vyhoda, and Vzirets were used in crossings, yield increased by 4.1-6.1 t/ha as compared to parental forms. An increase in average tuber weight of 7-18 g in the progeny was obtained by using the varieties Alliance, Ivankivska rannia, Javelina, Mezhyrichka 11, Radomysl and Vzirets as female; this was 9-17 g for male material of varieties Alliance, Mezhyrichka 11, Opillia, Rostavytsia, Vyhoda and Vzirets. The progeny, obtained using Fanatka, Javelina, Mezhyrichka 11, Svitana, and Vyhoda as female, had a 1.5-3.2 % higher starch content compared to parental forms, this was 1.5-2.3 % for progeny of Alliance, Javelina, Mezhyrichka 11, Opillia, Rostavytsia, Sontsedar, Svitana, and Vyhoda used as male. The average score of consumption quality characteristics of the progeny exceeded parental forms only by 0.1-0.2 point, it was highest for progeny when using Fanatka, Mezhyrichka 11, Radomysl, Svitana and Vzirets as female, and Alliance, Bazhana and Javelina as male. A decrease of 0.1-0.3 points in consumption quality characteristics was obtained for male progeny of Bazhana, Mezhyrichka 11, Rostavytsia and Vzirets. Conclusions. It was confirmed that characteristics of parental forms played a decisive role in forming quantitative and qualitative traits, which was a more critical factor than their place in the crossing scheme. It was also found that the genotype of the maternal component had a considerable impact on the yield level in the progeny, which highlighted the relevance of the accurate selection of the maternal form. The best performance was observed in clones created using the varieties Alliance, Javelina, Mezhyrichka 11, Svitana, Vyhoda and Vzirets. This concerned yield, average tuber weight, starch content and consumption quality, which confirmed previously found regularities: high performance was positively correlated with tubers weight (r = 0.33-0.76), whereas it was negatively correlated with starch content (r=-0.59) and large tuber size (r = -0.45-0.67), the latter only in case of progeny obtained from maternal material.