Bourlaye Fofana, a research scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, leads a team in Charlottetown that has examined wild potato varieties native to the South American Andes and that show potential to help the development of a more drought-resistant potato for North American markets.
“We see a lot of problems because genetic diversity among these cultivated commercial varieties is quite narrow,” Fofana said in an interview. “With climate change and heat waves, this lack of genetic diversity could be a big problem in the future.” “It’s easier to find markers; so, if you find your marker in diploids, it can be used in a tetraploid,” he said.“I have been working on diploids since 2014 and we are getting clones that are viable in terms of yield, tuber size and quality,” he said. “We know, for example, the starch content is quite good and the processing quality is quite good.”
The research by Fofana and his team is seen as an important first step scientifically. About 50 of the most promising clones are being turned over to the department’s breeding program in Fredericton for further study.
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