Genetic improvement of yield in potato has lagged behind that of other major crops over the past century, prompting the search for alternative breeding methods that may accelerate the development of improved cultivars. One proposed strategy has been to identify and use heterotic groups to increase the yield and consistency of clones produced by breeding programs. To investigate this approach, hybridizations were made between “Russet” and “Chipper” class elite long-day adapted potato clones, as well as between elite long-day adapted tetraploid clones and clones from an improved diploid population derived from Group Phureja and Group Stenotomum (4x-2x crosses). Field evaluation of random progeny derived from Russet-Chipper crosses had few notable benefits when compared to clones derived from crosses made within the Russet and Chipper groups. However, many of the clones derived from 4x-2x crosses out-yielded the highest yielding clones from crosses between elite long-day adapted tetraploid potato clones in initial evaluations. While every favorable quality trait measured was present in at least several clones derived from 4x-2x crosses, the frequency of many of these favorable quality traits was lower than in crosses between elite long-day adapted tetraploid potato clones. Our results suggest that Russet-Chipper crosses could be used to develop improved Chipper-type cultivars. However, continued selection of parental clones in 4x and 2x populations would likely be required before a high yielding clone with superior quality characteristics could be expected from these 4x-2x crosses.

在过去的一个世纪里，马铃薯产量的遗传改良落后于其他主要作物，促使人们寻找可能加速改良品种开发的替代育种方法。一种提议的策略是识别和使用杂种优势群来提高育种计划产生的克隆的产量和一致性。为了研究这种方法，在“Russet”和“Chipper”级优良长日适应马铃薯克隆之间，以及优良长日适应四倍体克隆与来自 Phureja 组和 Stenotomum 组的改良二倍体种群的克隆之间进行了杂交（4x-2x 交叉）。与来自 Russet 和 Chipper 组中杂交的克隆相比，对来自 Russet-Chipper 杂交的随机后代的现场评估几乎没有显着的好处。然而，在初步评估中，许多来自 4x-2x 杂交的克隆的产量超过了来自优良长日适应四倍体马铃薯克隆之间杂交的最高产量克隆。虽然测量的每一个有利的质量性状都存在于至少几个源自 4x-2x 杂交的克隆中，但许多这些有利的质量性状的频率低于优良的长日适应四倍体马铃薯克隆之间的杂交。我们的结果表明，Russet-Chipper 杂交可用于开发改良的 Chipper 型品种。然而，可能需要在 4x 和 2x 种群中继续选择亲本克隆，然后才能从这些 4x-2x 杂交中获得具有卓越质量特征的高产克隆。