Breeding of a new potato variety ‘Nagasaki Kogane’ with high eating quality, high carotenoid content, and resistance to diseases and pests

Abstract

‘Nagasaki Kogane’ is a new potato variety bred from a cross between ‘Saikai 35’ as a female parent and ‘Saikai 33’ as a male. ‘Saikai 35’ is resistant to bacterial wilt, contains the H1 and Ry_chc genes for resistance to the potato cyst nematode (PCN) and potato virus Y (PVY), respectively, and has high carotenoid content, while ‘Saikai 33’ has large and high-yielding tubers and is resistant to both bacterial wilt and PCN. The carotenoid content of ‘Nagasaki Kogane’ is higher than that of ‘Dejima’, a common double cropping variety. The taste quality of steamed ‘Nagasaki Kogane’ is comparable to that of ‘Inca-no-mezame’ tubers, which has high levels of carotenoid, and superior to ‘Nishiyutaka’, another popular double cropping variety. ‘Nagasaki Kogane’ is suitable for French fries, because its tuber has high starch content. The marketable yield of ‘Nagasaki Kogane’ was higher than that of ‘Inca-no-mezame’ in spring cropping, although it was lower than that of ‘Nishiyutaka’ in double cropping regions. ‘Nagasaki Kogane’ tubers are larger on average than ‘Inca-no-mezame’ tubers in spring cropping. Moreover, the ‘Nagasaki Kogane’ variety is resistant to PCN and PVY, and exhibits a high level of resistance to bacterial wilt.