DEVELOPMENT AND INTRODUCTION OF TECHNOLOGY FOR PRODUCING POTATO HYBRIDS ADAPTED TO ABIOTIC FACTORS”
Project Status: 2 Submitted to Parties for Board Decision
Duration in months: 36 months
Objective
Potato is the third most important food crop in the world after rice and wheat. Because of its widely distributed cultivation and high yields, it isconsidered a critical species in terms of food security in face of a growing world population. However, potato is particularly vulnerable to high temperature during various stages of its life cycle. Elevated temperatures strongly suppress tuberisation, negatively affect storage and shelf life of tubers and reduce fitness of seed potatoes. Breeding new heat-stress tolerant cultivars is an urgent need for sustainable increases in potato production and is a major contributor to the yield gap in Kazakhstan potato production.
The potato is a prime food product 9n Kazakhstan and can be exported to nearby populous neighboring countries that do not have adequate space for its cultivation. Area planted is up to 267 thousand hectares. The yield is 17-18 t/ha. However, due to low yields in comparison with the advanced countries of Western Europe (UK, Netherlands, Germany, France and others.), where the yield is 40-50 t / ha, gross yield of tubers does not provide the need of the national economy.
Based on the international practice, one of the radical ways to increase the crop yield is to introduce in the production the hybrids and productive varieties adapted to local soil and climatic conditions and having a competitive advantage over imported ones.
Resistance to major biotic and abiotic stresses is one of the basic requirements that apply to modern crop varieties and to the technologies of their cultivation. For many cultures the problem of complex long-term resistance to stress factors of biotic and abiotic nature still remains unresolved. The problem is particularly acute for the potato as it is a culture forming food security.
In recent work it has been demonstrated that a tuber yield QTL coincides with the map location of a HSc70 gene. Allelic variants of this gene have been identified in diploid potatoes and a particular allele of this gene is expressed at high levels on exposure to elevated temperature. Driving this expression is a TA repeat element in the gene promoter. The number of TA repeats varies from 4 (resulting in low expression) to 10 (resulting in high expression). High levels of expression of this gene confer heat tolerance as assessed by cell membrane damage at elevated temperature and yield measurements in potato plants grown under controlled temperature conditions.
In Kazakhstan, the degeneration of potato on the background of heightened phytosanitary situation can cause the death of up to 40-50%, and in some years up to 80% of the crop. In addition, significant losses are due to the fluctuations of weather conditions, and other abiotic factors.
The main solution to obtain high and stable yields under the increasing problem of desertification of cultivated land is to create domestic hybrids and productive varieties adapted to stressful environmental conditions.
The project has identified the main stages of research, general analytical approach, methodology and expected results.
Participating Institutions
LEADING
Limited Liability Partnership BioGeoTech
PARTICIPATING
Limited Liability Partnership Scientific Analytical Center Biomedpreparat
