Reciprocal effects in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) x Andigena- Tuberosum intergroup hybridization under shortdays

Abstract

Six Tuberosum and five Andigena parents were used to generate 23 Tuberosum × Andigena direct and 23 reciprocal progenies. These progenies were evaluated for total yield, marketable yield, tuber number, average tuber weight and per cent tuber dry matter in second and third clonal generations. Evaluation of progenies in field was done in Randomized Complete Block Design with split plot taking direction of cross (Andigena versus Tuberosum as female) as sub-plot and parental combination as main-plot. Significant variation was recorded in progenies for the characters studied. Results revealed that that reciprocal cross differences in inter group crosses were in general not significant for all the characters. The lack of reciprocal cross differences in short-day length environment in Indian plains shows that crosses can be attempted in either direction while breeding cultivars for Indian plains.