In Vitro Conservation of Potato Germplasm at Different Propagation Temperatures

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of temperature on the growth rate of twelve local potato varities (Desiree, Flamba, Stemster, Karuda, Harmes, Triplo, Aestrix, Sante, Amarin, Safari, Melanto, Zena red) at different temperatures (10 °C, 16 °C and 25 °C). Growth response of selected potato germplasm towards temperature were examined from 1st to 4th weeks on the basis of phenotypic parameters (plant height (cm), nodes (no.), leaves (no.), roots (no.)). At temperature of 25 °C, co-efficient of regression (R2) for plant height ranged from 0.9558 to 0.5877 where the maximum value of R2 was noted for Desiree and least for Sante. Similarly value of R2 for plant height of 0.8833, 0.8647, 0.8316, 0.8062, 0.7874, 0.741, 0.6541, 0.6488, 0.5972, 0.5969 and 0.5877 was recorded for Harmes, Stemster, Flamba, Amarin, Safari, Zenared, Karuda, Triplo, Aestrix, Melanto Sante respectively. Moreover, great diversity was examined in number of nodes and leaves (7 in Stemster and 13 in Melanto), number of roots (20 in Karuda and 8 in Sante) at 25 °C. Maximum diversity in the available selected varieties might have potential benefits for the farming community of Pakistan to allow them to practice sustainable agriculture production as the environmental influence will be less and hence will provide broad range of economic opportunity to them. In the present study at 10 °C growth of selected potato genotypes showed variation in morphological parameters. Additionally, diversity was examined in case of number of nodes (2 in Zena red and 8 Karuda), leaves (2 in Zena red and 8 Karuda) and number of roots (1 in Safari and 7 in Stemster). The optimized temperature for multiplication and conservation of potato could be utilized in future for In Vitro propagation/conservation programs in order to prevent the loss of important genetic materials.