Utility of ion-exchange substrates to grow potato seedlings under pot conditions

Present study reports the cultivation of potato seedlings on ionite substrates in pot culture. The possibility of using these substrates to preserve the qualitative characteristics of the potato genotype was studied. The research was conducted on hybrid seed potatoes produced in VNIIKH named after A. G. Lorch. During the growing season, the intensity of seedlings development in terms of stem height (every 2 weeks) was taken into account. At the end of the growing season, the number of leaves was analyzed, and after harvesting, the yield and its contributing components were taken into account. Dispersion analysis was performed to study the quantitative assessment of phenotypic factors. In peat soil, depending on their origin and year of cultivation, the percentage of seedling death varied from 26.0 to 41.6%. On ionite substrates, the survival rate of seedlings significantly increased - only 4.0-14.4% died when grown in cuvettes. After picking in pots, the full survival of seedlings was observed both in the control and in the experimental variants. The best of the experimental options for growing seedlings in pot culture was the substrate IS-2E, prepared on the basis of IS-2V and clinoptilolite in a volume ratio of 3:1. Growth and survival rate of seedlings on ionite substrates significantly increased by 19.3-30.2% over control and thus reduces percentage of seedlings elimination. Growing seedlings is one of the first and most important stages in the general scheme of potato breeding [1,2]. The pot culture of seedlings in greenhouses, which provides separate cultivation of genotypes, high planting density and the ability to eliminate the seasonality of this process, has acquired great importance [3]. However, the mixtures used as a substrate for growing plants do not provide optimal conditions for the growth and development of seedlings and the preservation of all genotypes [4,5]. Identifying optimal substrates and methods for obtaining hybrid seedlings of potatoes and improving the efficiency of selecting high-yielding genotypes at an early stage of selection is considered as an important researchable issue to increase the effectiveness of the entire selection process [6,7]. All this leads to strengthen the research in this direction, which has not yet developed and reported [8].