CREATION OF HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE BREEDING MATERIAL AND POTATO VARIETIES WITH A SET OF ECONOMICALLY VALUABLE TRAITS

Objective. To create highly productive breeding material and potato varieties with a complex of economically valuable traits. Methods. Field, laboratory and statistical. The creation of highly productive breeding material was carried out by methods of interspecific and interspecific hybridization. The study of breeding material by a complex of traits was carried out in breeding nurseries according to the scheme of the breeding process adopted at the Institute of Potato Growing. Yield, starchiness, taste, resistance to fungal, bacterial and viral diseases were evaluated according to generally accepted methods. Results. In 2015-2023, the breeding laboratory carried out targeted breeding work to create new highly productive potato varieties with a complex of economically valuable traits (high starch content, good taste, high marketability, disease resistance. Highly productive breeding material with a complex of economically valuable traits was obtained by interspecific and interspecific hybridization. Varieties of domestic and foreign breeding and hybrids created on a multispecies basis, combining high productivity with disease resistance and other economically valuable traits, were used as parental forms. In 2016, 12500 seedlings were grown from hybrid seeds, from which tuberous material was obtained, which was further studied for a set of traits in all nurseries, according to the scheme of the breeding process. In 2022-2023, the 20 best hybrids studied in the nursery were subjected to competitive environmental testing in comparison with standard varieties. As a result of the research, seven hybrids of different ripeness groups were identified, which exceed the standard varieties in terms of a set of traits. Two of these hybrids were submitted to the State Testing under the names Sofia and Solomiya. Conclusions. The involvement of domestic and foreign varieties and multispecies hybrids in the breeding process contributed to the creation of breeding material with a wide range of genes that determine its high productivity, good and high taste, and resistance to disease. Two new potato varieties, Sofia and Solomiya, have been created that combine high productivity with a range of other economically valuable traits.