The Effect of Dehydration Stress on Yield, Quantitative and Qualitative Traits of Hybrids Obtained From Crossbreeding of Commercial Potato Cultivars

Potatoes are a plant sensitive to water stress and are a rich source of carbohydrates, essential nutrients such as fiber, vitamins, minerals, proteins and antioxidants. Drought is one of the most common tensions that has always threatened the production of agricultural products and has affected a large area of the world. Therefore, due to the scarcity of water resources, it is necessary to increase water consumption efficiency in the agricultural sector and to pay more attention to water control and storage methods, including irrigation. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dehydration stress on yield, quantitative and qualitative traits of hybrids obtained from crosses of commercial potato cultivars in Ardabil province.

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of dehydration stress on yield, quantitative and qualitative traits of hybrids resulting from cross-breeding of commercial potato cultivars for two years (2017-97) in the greenhouse of Zare Gostar Arta Agricultural Company in Ardabil province. Split plot experiment Based on a completely randomized design with three replications. The main factor included three levels of irrigation (100, 85 and 70% of the plant's water requirement) and the sub-factor included 12 potato hybrids that were the result of crossing four cultivars Losta, Banba, Spirit and Agria as parents. Statistical calculations were performed using Sas 9.1 and Mini-tab 16 statistical software.

The results of analysis of variance showed that there was a significant difference in terms of all evaluated traits except main stem diameter, tuber dry matter percentage, tuber specific gravity and tuber starch percentage. In terms of bilateral effect of irrigation levels × cultivars, except for tuber dry matter percentage, tuber specific gravity and tuber starch percentage, significant differences were observed in other traits. Treatment of 100% water usable in the swamp (a Luca × Esprit♂) with an average of 53.56 tons per hectare maximum tuber yield and treatments of 85% water usable in the confluence (♀ Luca × Esprit×) and 65% water usable in the swamp (uc Luca × Esprit♂) with an average of 49.75 and 50.39 tons per hectare, respectively, had the lowest tuber yield. Crossing No. 10 (baBanba × Esprit♀) with an average of 21.52% had the highest percentage of dry matter and along with crosses No. 1, 7 and 9 were in the top group. The results of correlation between the evaluated traits in these three conditions separately showed that in all three water conditions the correlation between tuber yield and tuber weight per plant was positive and significant and at irrigation levels of 100, 85 and 65, respectively ( r= 0.98**, 0.99** and 0.99 **). Percentage of tuber dry matter, tuber specific gravity and percentage of tuber starch had a significant negative correlation with tuber yield and tuber weight per plant at 85% of usable water stress.

With this in mind, Cross No. 10 (baBanba × Esprit♀) is recommended among the crosses under evaluation for processing (chips).