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The Northwest Potato Variety Development Program (Tri-State) is poised to release a red-skinned variety with white flesh, notable for its consistently round tuber shape and its desirable size profile.
The new variety will be named Becca Rose, in honor of USDA Agricultural Research Service research geneticist and potato breeder Rich Novy’s two daughters, Rebecca (Becca) and Jenna Rose.
The Tri-State program, started in 1985, is a research collaboration involving the University of Idaho, Washington State University, Oregon State University and USDA-ARS scientists in Aberdeen, Idaho, and Prosser, Washington.
“Once a breeding clone is named and released as a variety, then the ownership of that variety is shared within the Tri-State program, currently with a new agreement between the Idaho, Washington and Oregon potato commissions, the USDA-ARS and the three universities,” Novy said, adding that royalties from Tri-State varieties are invested back into Tri-State research programs.
The variety Becca Rose is slated to be officially released by late summer 2022. The cultivar previously had been known by its breeding clone designation, NDA050237B-1R.
In 2005, North Dakota State University potato breeder Susie Thompson made the cross for Becca Rose between a pair of unnamed breeding clones and sent an unselected tuber that grew beneath that initial germinated seedling to Novy.
Novy planted the seedling tuber in his 2007 single-hill field evaluations, which include more than 100,000 seedling tubers resulting from hybridizations conducted at Aberdeen and another 10,000 to 15,000 seedling tubers planted from other U.S. breeding programs each season. The breeding clone was selected in the field at Aberdeen in 2007 and subsequently retained through many years of field trials across different growing environments.
Researchers and others involved in the program evaluate the tubers grown in the single-hill evaluations and retain only the top 1 percent to 3 percent to plant the next year in the 12-hill trial. With each subsequent field generation, more breeding clones are eliminated, and larger plots of each breeding clone are planted to allow for broader evaluations across multiple sites to assess performance in different growing environments.
Breeding clone seed is expanded at the University of Idaho’s Tetonia Research and Extension Center through a collaborative effort between Tetonia staff and ARS. Aberdeen breeding clones are then shared with the other Tri-State collaborators for evaluations under their conditions after six or seven years in the program.
That’s also about the timeframe in which Rhett Spear, a University of Idaho potato variety development specialist, begins management evaluations. They provide guidance on fertilizer requirements, how each breeding clone grows, row spacing, metribuzin herbicide sensitivity and other key factors.
“We try to get a good idea of management practices for different varieties so if they are released, we can communicate good information to the industry,” Spear said, adding that yield evaluations begin with the 12-hill trials and continue through the Tri-State and Western Regional trials.
It takes between nine and 12 years for a variety to be released. The program typically releases a variety or two each year, and the Tri-State partners are all involved in the decision.
“The main driver of if a variety gets released is if there is a champion for it,” Spear said. “In this case, growers in the Midwest are interested in the yield, color and size profile.”
In collaboration with Michigan State University, Becca Rose has been thoroughly tested in Michigan, where common scab pressure can be high. The variety appears to have good resistance to the bacterial disease. It also has been noted as high yielding with excellent skin color and tuber uniformity and a low incidence of internal defects in Michigan.
In addition to the strong industry interest in Michigan, Brian Charlton with Oregon State University has recognized the variety’s potential for western growers based on his evaluations in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Becca Rose produces average yields, but a high percentage of tubers are less than 6 ounces in western environments, which is a size profile that can be sold at a premium. In fields in Michigan, however, tuber size is larger, with a higher percentage of A-sized tubers, which the Michigan industry likes. In addition, Becca Rose has proven to retain its shape after baking and boiling. The spud’s brilliant color also doesn’t fade as much in storage compared to other red-skinned varieties.
