Productivity of potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L.) derived from eyes isolated from different parts of a tuber

In some publications, there are data confirming the highest productivity of potato plants grown from apical eyes, and, in contrary, many results controvert the advantage of the upper part of tuber if compared to medial and basal parts. The specific features of eyes which are formed at different parts of tuber and their effects on productivity are essential for potato seed production, and the elucidation of these questions is of grate importance. We studied the peculiarities of development and productivity of potato plants which were grown from intact tubers and also from the eyes isolated from tuber apical zone, middle, and basal parts. In experiments, the Scarb, a middle-ripening cultivar bred in Belorussia, was used, and investigations were conducted in the years with different temperature and moistening during vegetation. The differences of the eyes located at different tuber parts are shown to be significantly stipulated by the specificity of functions of a tuber as a biological system. Eye isolation destroys the system. The growth parameters in plant from an eye depend on the time of its isolation. If being isolated active, the plants from the apical eyes exceed in development and productivity, comparing to the other eyes derivates. If being isolated dormant, the yield produced by derivates of the eyes from any mother tuber part does not differ. Besides, the productivity does not depend on a mother tuber size.