Predicting potato plant vigor from the seed tuber properties.

The vigor of potato plants is of crucial importance for potato seed producers, who are interested in predicting it at scale by exploiting the dependence of plant growth and development on the origin and physiological state of the seed tuber. In this article we present the results of a three-year long experiment in which we studied six potato varieties in three test fields. We identify a 73-[Formula: see text] overall correlation in the vigor of plants from the same seedlot grown in different test fields.

Seed tuber microbiome can predict growth potential of potato varieties.

Potato vigour, the growth potential of seed potatoes, is a key agronomic trait that varies significantly across production fields due to factors such as genetic background and environmental conditions. Seed tuber microbiomes are thought to influence plant health and crop performance, yet the precise relationships between microbiome composition and potato vigour remain unclear. Here we conducted microbiome sequencing on seed tuber eyes and heel ends from 6 potato varieties grown in 240 fields.