Biotechnology methods in virus-free potato seed production

Relevance. Plants of potato varieties are carriers of viral pathogens in a latent form. These viruses can be transmitted to clonal progeny of the carriers. The system of virus-free seed production facilitates the elimination of the viruses in seed potatoes and preserves the high productivity of potato varieties. The research goal was to develop a scheme for virus elimination in potato using biotechnological methods and to introduce this scheme in the production of virus-free tubers under the conditions of Primorsky krai. Material and methods. New promising variety Moryak (breeding number Pri-08-11-1), which was created in FSBSI “FSC of Agricultural Biotechnology of the Far East named after A.K. Chaiki”, was used as the research object. The mean yield of the new genotype is 34.1 t/ha, the potential yield is 40.1 t/ha. The dry matter content is 18.13-23.85%, the starch content is 12.10-17.24%, and the content of vitamin C is 17.46-23.12 mg/100 g. This variety has a high keeping quality of tubers (92.2-94.4%) and resistance to excessive soil moisture. Tissue culture and chemotherapy in combination with ribavirin (a concentration of 0.02-0.03%) and chitosan (0.01-0.1%) were used for virus elimination. Sprouts from the original tubers and plantlets were tested by EIA and qPCR for latent infection (PVX, PVY, PVA, PVS, PVM, PLRV). Results. A sequential increase in the concentration of ribavirin (from 0.02 to 0.03%) and chitosan (from 0.01 to 0.1%) and their alternation in different passages proved to be an effective method for virus elimination in plantlets. As the result of the research, the new scheme for the elimination of the most economically important potato viruses was developed and introduced, and virus-free seed material was obtained.