Potato Improvement Through In Vitro Techniques

Different aspects of micropropagation through meristem culture for the production of virus indexed source plants, callus induction followed by subsequent plant regeneration, in vitro tuberization and field evaluation of the in vitro regenerated plants were studied on four commercial cultivars of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) viz., Diamant, Cardinal, Shilbilati and Lalpakri. Rooted plantlets of four potato cultivars obtained directly through meristem culture and indirectly via callus phase were gradually acclimatized and successfully established in the field. Visual evaluation of the morphological traits of the meristem-derived plants showed that all plants were normal and free from virus diseases. Substantial yield increase was observed from meristem-derived plants over their source plants. Somaclonal variation among different plants derived from callus was observed. The present investigation also addressed in vitro tuberization in potato. The potato plants derived from microtubers of four varieties under field condition was similar to look as that of normal seed propagated plants.