The present protocol aims at providing a practical procedure for the assessment and documentation of tuber bulking maturity of potential varieties and also can be useful in the selection of early bulking maturity clones.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book provides a fresh, updated and science-based perspective on the current status and prospects of the diverse array of topics related to the potato, and was written by distinguished scientists with hands-on global experience in research aspects related to potato. The potato is the third most important global food crop in terms of consumption. Being the only vegetatively propagated species among the world’s main five staple crops creates both issues and opportunities for the potato: on the one hand, this constrains the speed of its geographic expansion and its options for international commercialization and distribution when compared with commodity crops such as maize, wheat or rice. On the other, it provides an effective insulation against speculation and unforeseen spikes in commodity prices, since the potato does not represent a good traded on global markets. These two factors highlight the underappreciated and underrated role of the potato as a dependable nutrition security crop, one that can mitigate turmoil in world food supply and demand and political instability in some developing countries. Increasingly, the global role of the potato has expanded from a profitable crop in developing countries to a crop providing income and nutrition security in developing ones. This book will appeal to academics and students of crop sciences, but also policy makers and other stakeholders involved in the potato and its contribution to humankind’s food security.

In the last 50 years, classical breeding has played a significant role in achieving higher crop productivity, but major crops have reached a plateau in their yield potential. Therefore, the current focus for sustainable intensification of agriculture is the use of biotechnological approaches to enhance the yield potential by combating the yield losses that occur due to abiotic stresses. The abiotic stresses are governed by multigenes, and therefore, a holistic approach is needed to get success in imparting stress tolerance to enhance the yield potential of our crops. Plants face multiple stress conditions during their life stages and adopt several physiological, biochemical, and molecular strategies to combat that, which are sometimes not sufficient to survive, particularly crop plants. The climate change era has created a need to understand the abiotic stresses in a holistic way. Therefore, a deep understanding of multiple abiotic stress mechanisms is necessary to develop crops tolerant to climate fluctuation. With this background, the outline of this book covers the following features: • Agriculture sustainability and molecular understanding of multiple stress tolerance • Systems biology for life-history strategies, conventional and genomic approaches above and underground • Genetic resources and molecular understanding of seed priming • Molecular signaling compounds, cell signal transduction, and crosstalk between plant growth hormones and regulators • Roles Transcription factors, LEA proteins, reactive oxygen species and alternative oxidase • Genome editing, metabolomics, and ‘omics’ technologies

Completely updated and revised, this bestselling book continues to explain the growth and developmental processes involved in the formation of vegetables. Since the publication of the successful first edition significant discoveries, particularly in the area of molecular biology, have deepened and broadened our knowledge and understanding of these processes. This new edition brings the topic up-to-date and is presented over two sections: the first provides general knowledge on germination, transplanting, flowering, the effects of stress and modelling, whilst the second section details the physiology of specific crops or crop groups.

In the past 15-20 years major discoveries have been concluded on potato biology and biotechnology. Important new tools have been developed in the area of molecular genetics, and our understanding of potato physiology has been revolutionized due to amenability of the potato to genetic transformation. This technology has impacted our understanding of the molecular basis of plant-pathogen interaction and has also opened new opportunities for the use of the potato in a variety of non-food biotechnological purposes. This book covers the potato world market as it expands further into the new millennium. Authors stress the overriding need for stable yields to eliminate human hunger and poverty, while considering solutions to enhance global production and distribution. It comprehensively describes genetics and genetic resources, plant growth and development, response to the environment, tuber quality, pests and diseases, biotechnology and crop management. Potato Biology is the most valuable reference available for all professionals involved in the potato industry, plant biologists and agronomists. - Offers an understanding of the social, economic and market factors that influence production and distribution - Discusses developments and useful traits in transgenic biology and genetic engineering - The first reference entirely devoted to understanding new advances in potato biology and biotechnology

This paper provides guidelines for new high-throughput screening methods – both phenotypic and genotypic – to enable the detection of rare mutant traits, and reviews techniques for increasing the efficiency of crop mutation breeding.

Intended as both an instructional and a reference tool, the volume covers the production and postharvest treatment of cassava. The first part describes production constraints including pests , diseases, weeds, soils agronomic factors, and socioeconomic considerations. In part two, plant morphology, plant physiology and plant breeding are related to yields and diseases resistance. Part three covers postharvest treatment and part four describes cassava research. A bibliography of recommended reading is included.

This book describes the historical importance of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.),potato genetic resources and stocks (including S. tuberosum group Phureja DM1-3 516 R44, a unique doubled monoploid homozygous line) used for potato genome sequencing. It also discusses strategies and tools for high-throughput sequencing, sequence assembly, annotation, analysis, repetitive sequences and genotyping-by-sequencing approaches. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.; 2n = 4x = 48) is the fourth most important food crop of the world after rice, wheat and maize and holds great potential to ensure both food and nutritional security. It is an autotetraploid crop with complex genetics, acute inbreeding depression and a highly heterozygous nature. Further, the book examines the recent discovery of whole genome sequencing of a few wild potato species genomes, genomics in management and genetic enhancement of Solanum species, new strategies towards durable potato late blight resistance, structural analysis of resistance genes, genomics resources for abiotic stress management, as well as somatic cell genetics and modern approaches in true-potato-seed technology. The complete genome sequence provides a better understanding of potato biology, underpinning evolutionary process, genetics, breeding and molecular efforts to improve various important traits involved in potato growth and development.

It is important to include Tuber and Root Crops in the Handbook of Plant Breeding. They include starchy staple crops that are of increasing importance for global food security and relief of poverty, important millennium goals for the United Nations. Indeed, 2008 was the UN International Year of the Potato in recognition of this role of the potato as the world’s third most important food crop after wheat and rice. The other major staples are cassava, sweetpotato and yam. Together they occupy about 50 million hectares, with production at 640 million metric tons, of which 70% is in developing countries. In total there are more than 30 species of Root and Tuber Crops grown in the world today. Given the content of other volumes in the series, it makes sense to include sugar and fodder beets; swedes and turnips; and minor root and tuber crops so that the book series is as complete as possible. Like the other volumes in the series, this one will present information on the latest in applied plant breeding using the current advances in the field, from an efficient use of genetic resources to the impact of biotechnology in plant breeding. Seven crop specific chapters are proposed, together with an introduction to this diverse set of plant species. Outstanding scientists for each crop species are proposed as senior authors, who may invite co-authors to contribute part of a chapter. In order to increase the overall acceptance of the volume, balance will be sought with authors from different research groups/countries who will be asked to contribute and collaborate where appropriate. The book should be of interest to researchers in both academic and industrial settings, and in both developed and developing countries, as well as students and teachers of plant breeding. It is currently extremely important to educate and train a new generation of plant breeders given the challenges faced by humankind in producing more food for an expanding global population during a period of environmental (including climate) change.