Research and development of breeding will become a breakthrough in potato grain production.

In the mid-16th century, potato was brought to Europe by Spanish colonists from South America. In the 17th century, because of its higher yield than other grains and easy management, potato has become an important food crop in Europe and introduced into China. Today, China has become the country with the highest total potato output in the world. At the beginning of this year, potato became the fourth staple grain in China. With the proposal of potato staple food strategy, it plays a more and more important role in grain production in China. Can the existing potato varieties in China meet the demand of staple food? What is the present situation and prospect of potato breeding in China? With these questions, the reporter interviewed Jin Liping, the chief expert in the technical system of the national potato industry.

Jin Liping said that potato staple products are made of whole flour or fresh potatoes into steamed bread, noodles and other diversified staple food products and comprehensive utilization products. By 2013, more than 390 new potato varieties have been bred in China, including fresh potato edible type, starch processing type, fried food type, whole flour processing type and characteristic type, which have been greatly improved in yield, quality, disease resistance and appearance. It is believed that some varieties can be used for the development of different staple food products after comprehensive screening. At present, more than 110 domestic varieties are widely used in production, most of which are fresh potato edible and high starch varieties. The special varieties for fried food processing and whole powder processing are still imported from abroad.

The research and development of potato breeding plays a vital role in its staple food and industrial development. However, at present, only a few potato varieties in China can be used to process whole flour, and most potato varieties are difficult to meet the demand of staple food in production.

Jin Liping told reporters that potato is an autotetraploid asexual reproduction crop, germplasm resources innovation and variety breeding cycle is long, breeding a new variety takes about 10 years. China's potato processing industry is underdeveloped, especially food processing and whole flour processing began to develop in the 1990s, and the demand for potato staple food has just been put forward.

For a long time, the main goal of potato breeding in China is high yield and disease resistance. the type of breeding variety is single, and there is a serious lack of all kinds of special varieties. Jin Liping said that the lack of excellent germplasm resources has been the main limiting factor for potato variety breeding in China.

Jin Liping also told reporters that due to the lack of long-term and stable support and the lag of resource research and improvement, the research on the mining and utilization of favorable genes in China's potato related resources is still in its infancy, and breeding lacks high-quality parents. 50% of the varieties that have been bred now come from seven parents. There are more than 7000 wild species, original cultivated species and local varieties preserved in the world. At present, only a very small amount of these resources have been preserved in a few research units in China.

Looking forward to the prospect of the whole industry, potato breeding is both a challenge and an opportunity. Jin Liping said that as long as we further increase investment in potato breeding research, accelerate the collection, development and utilization of potato germplasm resources, and at the same time improve the comprehensive technology of breeding high-yield, disease-resistant and stress-resistant varieties, breeding research and development will become a breakthrough in the main grain of potato and the rapid development of the potato industry.