Dune Russet: A French-Fry Potato Cultivar with High Specific Gravity under High-Temperature Growing Conditions and Excellent Processing Quality after Long-Term Cold Storage

Abstract Dune Russet (COTX08063-2Ru) is the first French fry russet potato cultivar released by the Texas A&M Potato Breeding Program. It derives from a cross made by the Colorado State University Potato Program between Premier Russet and A99073-1 and was subsequently selected and advanced by the Texas Program. Dune Russet has oblong potato tubers with light russet skin texture and white flesh. It is characterized by having excellent French fry quality and cold-induced sweetening resistance, producing light-colored fries directly from the field and even after several months (three to eight) in cold storage at 4.4 °C. Dune Russet is especially recommended for areas that experience high-temperature stress during the growing season, as it can retain high specific gravity near 1.090 and produce light French fries despite heat stress. Across multi-location trials, Dune Russet outperformed the reference cultivar, Russet Burbank, and other processing cultivars in French fry quality, while offering some field-based PVY tolerance and good agronomic performance, including competitive marketable yields and a high proportion of US No. 1 tubers.