Potato breeding and variety development occur in four areas of Oregon.
Corvallis
Oregon State University's main campus is home to the Department of Crop and Soil Science:
- Maintains Oregon Potato Germplasm.
- Produces genetically unique seedling tubers from true potato seed (TPS) for single-hill evaluations at Klamath Falls.
- Evaluates early generation and advanced selections for resistance to foliar and tuber late blight infection.
Hermiston
Oregon State's potato variety breeding program is centered at the Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center:
- Provides leadership for statewide potato breeding, germplasm improvement, and potato genomics.
- Evaluates Oregon selections in 4-hill, 2×17 hill, statewide, and tri-state trials for adaptation to southern Columbia Basin center pivot agriculture.
- Evaluate advanced chipping, fresh market, and processing selections for quality and performance characteristics in cooperative Tri-State and regional trials.
- Evaluates breeding selections for field resistance to PLRV and related net necrosis development, PVY, and to early die (Verticillium wilt) in a high disease pressure environment.
- Integrates conventional breeding and molecular breeding by focusing on DNA-based markers that can be used for marker-assisted selection (MAS) of superior cultivars.
- Develop new molecular and genomic tools for use in the breeding program.
Klamath Falls
Activities at the Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center include:
- Primary site for planting and evaluating single-hill breeding selections.
- Produces and distributes seed of breeding selections to cooperators conducting Oregon, Tri-State, western regional, and advanced field trials.
- Serves as a short-season testing site for preliminary, statewide, and regional trials with emphasis on fresh market, chipping, and specialty-type uses.
- Screens early generation selections in single-hill, 4-hill, and preliminary yield trials.
- Coordinates the Oregon red-skinned and specialty selection program.
- Collates and publishes regional red-skinned and specialty variety trial results.
- Periodically screens advanced selections for resistance to corky ringspot caused by tobacco rattle virus vectored by stubby-root nematodes and resistance to damage caused by root-knot nematodes.
- Evaluates cultural management practices for advanced selections as dictated by industry interest.
Ontario
Potatoes are an important crop in Malheur County, home to the Malheur Experiment Station:
- Serves as a selection site where varieties tend to produce tuber abnormalities due to heat stress are often expressed.
- Serves as a long growing season testing site for statewide or regional trials.
- Evaluates cultural management practices for advanced selections as dictated by industry interest.