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2/15/2021 Breeder seed production in potato - Krishisewa
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Breeder seed production in potato (/seed-production/1279-breeder-seed-
production-in-potato.html)
Dr. Murlidhar Sadawarti 15 February 2021 Hits: 3
Potato seed (/component/tags/tag/potato-seed.html)
Steps of potato seed production (/component/tags/tag/steps-of-potato-seed-production.html)
आलू का ीडर सीड (/component/tags/tag/आलू-का-ीडर-सीड.html)
आलू मे जनक बीज उपादन
Breeder seed is seed or vegetative propagating material directly controlled by the originating or
sponsoring plant breeder of the breeding programme or institution and/or seed whose production is
personally supervised by a qualified plant breeder and which provides the source for the initial and
recurring increase of foundation seed.
Breeder seeds are produced using nucleus seeds in the Research institutes or Universities under the
supervision of a breeder. The entire production process will be monitored by the Scientists and
Officers of the Seed Certification Department and by the representatives of the National Seed
Corporation.
The genetic purity of the breeder seeds is 100% and the tag provided for the breeder seed is golden
yellow in colour. Breeder seed shall be genetically so pure as to guarantee that in the subsequent
generation i.e. certified Foundation seed class shall conform to the prescribed standards of genetic
purity.
The other quality factors of Breeder seed such as physical purity, inert matter, germination etc. shall
be indicated on the label on actual basis.
Importance of quality seed in potato
High yields of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) in the field like other crops revolves around use of
high-quality seed potatoes. Since potato is a vegetatively propagated plant, fungal, bacterial and
especially viral diseases easily affect seed tubers. Viral diseases are mainly responsible for
2/15/2021 Breeder seed production in potato - Krishisewa
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degeneration of seed tubers, which decrease their vigor as well as productivity.
Since, the crop is multiplied vegetatively using tuber as seed; it gets degenerated very fast
necessitating replacement after every four years. Additionally, the seed is either unavailable or out of
the reach of poor farmers owing to high seed cost.
The seed related issues are further aggravated due to restricted accessibility to seed producing
regions, transportability of quality seeds. Quality seed can the increase in yield by 15 - 20%.
At present the country has an area of approximately 2.14 million ha under potato and as such
requires about 6.42 million tones of quality seed at the rate of 3-3.5 t/ha to achieve 100% seed
replacement rate.
Every year, the desirable seed replacement rate of 25% is must to get good production and
productivity of potato in the country. However, the current average seed replacement rate of potato in
India is much below than the desirable seed replacement rate (25%).
The ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI) is the backbone of the formal seed production in
India and develops the breeder seed by conventional (tuber indexing and clonal selection) and hi-tech
seed production system (micro-propagation).
CPRI is collaborating with other state agricultural universities and private seed companies to augment
the production of breeder seed of important varieties to meet out increasing seed demand in the
country.
Stages of breeder seed production
Breeder seed in potato produced from nucleus seed. The nucleus seed is developed in the hills
produced during long day conditions at a temperature range of 12-28 C and 8-28 C in plains.
The nucleus seed can be developed either through clonal selection and tuber indexing and after
ELISA testing for viruses, diseases free tubers are multiplied in the field in stage-I at a spacing of 1
x 1 m in hills and 1.2 x1.0 m in the plains.
The produce of stage I is further multiplied in stage II at a spacing of 1.0 x 0.2 or 1.2 x 0.2 m in
hills and plains respectively. The seed produced in these stages is called nucleus seed.
Under hi-tech system by micropropagation through meristem tip culture and hardened microplant,
microtuber and aeroponic minituber planted in nursery beds in mixture of soil, sand and FYM (2:1:1)
in rows at 30 cm × 10 cm spacing under insect proof net house condition.
Minitubers harvested (Generation-0) are called as nucleus seed. Stage II seed tubers and Minitubers
(Generation-0) will be planted in the field during next season in 60x20 cm spacing for production of
(pre breeder seed ) Stage III and generation 1. Stage-III and generation -1 seed tubers respectively
which are further multiplied for production of breeder seed (Stage-IV/Generation-2).
Basic requirement for breeder seed potato production
Agro climatic conditions
There are two seasons of seed production in the country i.e. summer and autumn. In summer
season, seed production is done under long day and rain fed conditions in high hills from February to
October
In autumn season the seed production is done in sub-tropical plains under short day and irrigated
conditions from October to March. The adverse weather conditions from land preparation to harvesting
and storage largely affect the yield and seed quality.
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Potato is a low temperature crop and grows well between 12 to 28 C in hills and 8-28 C in the
plains. The optimum temperature is 18-22 C for foliar growth while the lower temperature 10-16 C is
good for tuberization and bulking of the crop.
The crop is grown under long days in the hills. A minimum photoperiod of 8-10 hours is necessary
for optimum yields under short day conditions in the plains. The sunshine shorter than 8 hours will
adversely affect the seed potato production.
In Potato Aphid Viruses get transmitted through contact or insect vectors (aphids and thrips) and
cause infection in the crop. Hence 75 days should be aphid free period is required during growing
season (fig 1). On the basis of aphid free period, the breeder seed production zones are given
below
Table 1. Suitability of regions for breeder seed production
State Zone Type of seed Remarks
Himachal Pradesh North high hills Nucleus, Breeder,
Foundation and Certified
seed
Low aphids during
cropping season and no serious soil
and tuber borne disease and pests
Jammu & Kashmir Northern high hills Breeder seed,
Foundation and Certified
seed
Low aphid infestation
Punjab, Haryana,
UP,MP, Bihar
Indo-Gangetic plains Nucleus, Breeders,
Foundation and Certified
seed
Low aphids during October to mid-
January and no serious soil and
tuber borne diseases
Fig 1 Low aphid population in subtropics
Rain fall and irrigation
Regular rains at interval of 10-12 days is desirable in hills before monsoon to avoid drought which
delays tuberization. In plains sufficient availability of water for frequent irrigation (7-8 times at an
interval of 6-8 days) is essential for better growth and tuberization.
Soils
Potato grows well at pH 5.5. to 8.5 in sandy loam, sandy and clay loam soils but the best soil is
with pH 6.0 to 7.0. In hills, soils are slightly acidic. Sandy loam and loam soils are best as the root
system and stolon penetrate easily in the soil. In sandy soils the penetration of roots and stolons is
easy and the tuberization occurs earlier and leads to early maturity of crop while in clay loam soil
they are delayed.
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Manures and fertilizers
Potato being fertilizer responsive crop, manures & fertilizers are the important inputs that affect its
yield.
Manure: Potato requires well rotten 10 to 15 t/ha FYM if green manure crop is taken otherwise 30
t/ha FYM is to be applied.
Fertilizers: The crop requires balanced use of NPK for optimum production. NPK fertilizer doses for
(stage IV) breeder seed are required as given in Table-2. Fertilizers recommended for are ammonium
sulphate, single super phosphate (SSP) and muriate of potash (MOP).
Half dose of N and full doses of P & K should be applied before planting. High dose of nitrogen than
recommended one will mask the virus symptoms in the crop hindering the rouging of virus infected
plants. FYM and fertilizer (CAN, SSP & MOP) can be applied simultaneously at planting.
Table 2: Recommended dose of fertilizers
Stage Nitrogen (Kg/ha) Phosphorous (Kg/ha) Potassium (Kg/ha)
Hills
Breeder seed 120 100 100
Plains
Breeder seed 150 60 100
Healthy seed
The healthy pre breeder seed (Stage-III) free from viral, bacterial diseases and nematodes is used for
breeder seed produuction.Varietal purity, size of tubers (40-50g), right physiological conditions and
disease freedom collectively determine the quality of seed.
Laboratory and equipment facilities
They are essential to carry out serological (ELISA) testing for virus detection.Testing of 150
plants/ha in breeder seed done randomly as per procedure of ELISA testing.
Breeder seed production under Seed Plot Technique (SPT)
The technique, of growing seed potato crop during low aphid period with healthy seed from October
to first week of January coupled with the use of insecticides, rouging and dehaulming in the last week
of December or up to second week of January was developed by the ICAR-CPRI, Shimla in 1959
and is called as “Seed Plot Technique”.
Quality seed production was possible under this technique in sub-tropical plains by advancing the date
of planting from December end to first week of October. Breeder seed is produced at ICAR-CPRI
regional centres with seed plot technique under strict supervision of scientist (fig 2).
The produce of pre breeder seed in III and Generation-1 further multiplied following SPT in 4 year in
stage IV and third year in Generation-2 at a normal spacing of 60 x 20cm called as breeder seed.
The breeder seed is internationally called as basic seed but in India the farmers and Government
officials are more acquainted with the term breeder seed so the term breeder seed is used in the
text.
Characteristic features of SPT
There should be a low aphid or aphid free period of 75 days after the planting of crop.
Adopt 2-3 years crop rotation to take care of soil borne pathogens.
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Seed crop should be grown in isolation of 25 meters from ware crop.
Seed should be procured from reliable sources and must be free from viruses and soil borne
pathogens. Cold stored seed of right physiological age should be used.
Crop should be planted on 10 October in Punjab, 25 October in Haryana, Western Uttar
Pradesh and 5 November in Madhya Pradesh, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
Systemic insecticide such as Cartap hydrachloride to be applied in split doses of 20kg/ha at the
time of earthing up against sucking insects.
Pre-sprouted seed with multiple sprouts may be used, which ensures quick, uniform and early
emergence.
For weed control, use herbicides (metribuzin/sencor @ 750g/ha within 3-4 days of planting.
Inspect the seed crop thrice at 45, 60 and 75 days during growing season to remove off type
and virus infected diseased plants.
Alternate spray of Imidacloprid @ 0.002%, triazophos @ 1.6 l/ha and thiamethaxam @ 130g/ha
to protect seed crop from insects after emergence at 15-20 days interval.
Spray the crop with mancozeb @ 2.0 kg/ha at 10 days intervals from 3 week of November
and spray Curzate M-8 @ 3.0 kg/ha as and when late blight is observed.
Irrigation should be with hold in 3 week of December e. 7-10 days before haulms killing in
north-western plains and 1 week of January in north-eastern plains.
Haulms killing to be done in the end of December in Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh;
by 10 January in Central Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and by 15 January in eastern Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar.
Harvest the crop, 15-20 days after haulms killing when the fields are in workable condition and
tuber skin is hardened. Cure the crop in heaps in a cool shady place for about 15-20 days.
Treat the produce with commercial grade Boric Acid 3% solution for 20 minutes to prevent
surface borne pathogens. Dry in shade and fill in bags, sealed and labelled properly before
supply to different agencies for further multiplications.
Table 3.Breeder seed crop planting, dehaulming and harvesting schedule
Location Planting Dehaulming Harvesting
Punjab and Haryana Oct. 7 Dec. 31 Jan. 15
NW and central plains Oct. 15 Jan. 10 Jan. 25
Eastern UP and MP Oct. 31 Jan. 15 Jan. 31
Bihar Nov. 7 Jan. 20 Jan. 31
Certification
Breeder seed will not be certified by seed certification agency (SCA). It will be monitored by
monitoring team comprising of personal from production institute, seed certification agency
representative and seed production agency representative.
Bagging: Seed should be weighed and bagged for sale or distribution depending on indent of client.
There must be logo in bag mentioning name of producing institute and name of variety
Tagging/ labelling:
Golden yellow tag containing following information should be issued along with the seed. One tag
issued in every bag
Size of label: 12 x 6 cm
Information on label: Breeder seed shall be supplied in sealed bags, duly stitched and sealed. A
cloth-lined label of 12 cm x 6 cm containing following information shall be fixed on the container.
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Crop
Variety
Class of seed
Lot No.
Date of test
*Pure seed
*Inert matter
*Germination
Producing Institution
(name and address)
Breeder seed
%
%
%
Label No.
*Based on actual.
Breeder seed performae to be submitted
1. BSP-I: Allocation of breeder seed production
2. BSP-II: Time table of production and availability of breeder seed
3. BSP-III: Inspection report of the monitoring team
4. BSP-IV: Breeder seed actually produced
5. BSP-VI: Grow out Report
6. BSP-VII: Breeder seed distribution
Seed Standards for potato breeder seed
There is no such standard for breeder seed as such but it should be such that the seed produced
from it should meet foundation seed standard
1. Genetic Purity : 100%
2. Inert Matter: Nil
3. Minimum Germination : 99%
4. Specification in respect of size and weight of seed material shall be as under
Size Mean length and two widths at the middle of tuber Corresponding weight
(a) Hill seed (HS)Seed
sizeLarge size
30mm-60mmabove 60mm 25-150gm above
150gm
(b) Plains seed (PS) Seed
size large size
30 mm- 55 mm above 55 mm 25-125gm above 125
gm
Potato breeder seed indent and allotment
1. Breeder seed indent shall be placed one year before requirement
2. Each State in consultation with ICAR Institutes, SAUs and Seed producing Agencies shall
formulate seed plan (for Breeder, Foundation and Certified Seed) for the cropping seasons on
the basis of an assessment of existing and new varieties in terms of actual or potential yield in
each district/agro-climatic zone.
3. State Governments shall submit the seed plan and the Breeder Seeds indent to DAC/ICAR, for
national varieties by 15 June for potato (Rabi crop- potato).
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4. Private seed companies will also place the breeder seed indent by 15 June for potato (Rabi
crop- potato) through National Seeds Association of India (NSAI) to Seeds Division,DAC.
5. DAC shall compile all the Breeder Seed Indents of States and private seed companies and
furnish them to ICAR/ concerned PDs/PCs for production of the breeder seeds.
6. The breeder seed will be allotted to all States and private seed companies for lifting from
institutes of ICAR to produce foundation and certifiedseed
7. Indent of breeder seed will be published on seednet portal (http://seednet.gov.in)
8. The Lifting of Breeder Seed is to be monitored jointly by DAC and ICAR.
Potato breeder seed price
Every year price of the breeder seed will be decided by central government
Year Price (Rs/qt)
2016-17 2800
2017-18 3500
2018-19 3500
2019-20 3500
2020-21 3500
Authors:
Murlidhar Sadawarti, SP Singh, RK Singh, Subhash Katare, Tanuja Buckseth, Shyam Kumar
Gupta, RK Samadhiya, YP Singh, Sanjay Sharma and Surender Singh
ICAR–Central Potato Research Institute, RS Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh 474020
ICAR–Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh 171001
Email: murlidharsada@gmail.com (mailto:murlidharsada@gmail.com)
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