What is an elite seed potato and what are its advantages

17-02-2018
Tips and ideas

Answers agronomist in the field of farming Field Experimental Station RGAU-MSHA them. K.A. Timiryazeva Sergey Shepherds:

—An unhappy exhibitions and shops in the summer cottage gardeners can buy packages of seed potatoes, with a label that says the word “elite”. These are suitable for planting tubers, free viral and other diseases.

If you grow potatoes on your own, then without occasionally buying a certain amount of “elite” you will not need it: without this, the yield will fall all the time due to the accumulation of viral infections. Without a healthy planting material there will be something that is generally described by the words "potatoes degenerate."

You can get elite seed tubers only in the specialized agencies. It is impossible to rid the potatoes of otviruses in domestic conditions or nadača. The healing technology is based on natom, that some cells on the very tips of sprouts divide so quickly that they fail to penetrate the growing viruses. It is from these cells that new healthy plants are obtained.

This is quite difficult to do: first, the cells are separated (under a microscope and sterile conditions) and this material is grown in a laboratory of nutrient media. Then the diagnosis is carried out: if the viruses are not detected, then the material is propagated in the sterile conditions and the test tubes go on.

They get mini bushes and place them in the greenhouse: the season there are formed the so-called mini-tubers (their size is 1-3cm). Nooni are intended not for summer residents, and for further reproduction in field conditions under the supervision of specialists. The next stage of this process is the seed potatoes of the “elite” category.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to distinguish the real “elite” of a typical seed potato. Therefore, either buy it from a reliable and experienced manufacturer, or be sure to ask for a certificate on the planting material.

198-What is elite seed potatoes