Belarusian Potato Varieties

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Belarusian potato varieties suitable for the North-West of Russia

A gift for specialists of the agro-industrial complex, scientific workers, farmers and amateur potato growers was the publication by a group of authors of the Institute of Potato Growing of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus of the catalog "Potato Varieties" with color illustrations and a comprehensive assessment of 38 varieties of this crop selected by the said institution.

Among the described varieties included in the catalog, 24 varieties are resistant (U) to the golden potato nematode, 24 are suitable for industrial processing for food, semi-finished products, starch and alcohol.

Potatoes have always been highly valued in Belarus, where they began to plant them since the last quarter of the 18th century. As historians note, the demand for it as a food product, as elsewhere, grew gradually at first. But from the first decade of the 19th century, the areas under this crop began to increase very quickly, and already in the 40s, potatoes were considered the main source of income on the landowners' estates.

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Most of the grown tubers from Belarus were exported to the south of Russia, to Prussia, the Baltic States; the increase in potato production contributed to the almost complete displacement of rye as a source of raw materials for processing into alcohol. At present, due to the high gross harvest of tubers, the republic occupies the 7th-8th place among the world's largest potato producers.

In recent years, the amount of potatoes produced per capita has been around 700-1000 kg, which is one of the highest in the world. According to experts, the conduct of successful potato growing in Belarus is favored by optimal soil and climatic conditions, the presence of traditions, knowledge and material and technical base, solid scientific support, and an advantageous geographical position in relation to sales markets.

But back to the varieties of the Belarusian selection. First, I will remind you that potato varieties differ significantly from each other in early maturity. Distinguish between economic early maturity, when the potato yields a marketable product, and physiological early maturity, when it completely ends its growing season. According to these criteria, potato varieties are divided into 5 groups of early maturity: early - 55-65 days / 80-90 days; medium early - 65-80 / 100-115; mid-season - 80-100 / 115-125; medium late - 100-110 / 125-140; late - 110 and more / more than 140 days.

For the Leningrad region, early, mid-early and mid-season potato varieties are more suitable, since they manage to get a full-fledged crop of tubers in time and escape from the onset of rainy weather and the possible severe damage by late blight. For the ripening of medium-late and late varieties in our region, planting material must be prepared in advance, maybe even planted with seedlings. Therefore, among the varieties of Belarusian selection, early, mid-early, mid-season and mid-late varieties may be of interest to us.

It does not hurt to recall that the varieties, in addition to the ripening period, have other characteristics, such as the shape of the tuber, the color of its peel. You need to know that the yield of a variety can have indicators: very high, high, medium or low; the starch content in tubers is very high - more than 24%, high - 20.1-22%, medium - 16.1-18%, low - 12.1-14% and very low - less than 10%. Tubers have different dormancy periods - very long, long, medium and short. These characteristics are important for those who grow potatoes to meet the needs of their families from harvest to harvest.

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Early potato varieties

There are four early potato varieties in the Belarusian catalog:

Axamit - with large aligned tubers (9-12 in the bush) with yellow skin and white pulp (starch 12-16%). With an average yield, the variety is characterized by an intensive accumulation of an early harvest and a high marketability of tubers; but you need to be aware of the early premature germination of the eyes of its tubers, which is why cold storage (2 ° C) is recommended. It performs well on fertile soils when applied at full doses of NPK.

High-yielding variety Dolphin (Y - resistant to nematodes) with medium rounded-oval tubers (14-16 in a bush) of an attractive appearance, with a yellow skin and light yellow pulp (starch - 11-14%). Drought resistant; for an earlier accumulation of marketable mass, timely germination of seed is recommended. When cultivated for food purposes, the planting density should be 350-400 tubers per hundred square meters.

Caprice - with medium round-oval tubers (12-14 per bush) with yellow skin and creamy pulp (starch - 10.8-14.8%). The variety requires light soils to show medium to high yields.

Lapis lazuli (U) - with large rounded tubers with yellow skin and white pulp (starch - 12.4-17%). They are characterized by early formation of the crop, the variety is recommended to be grown on light and medium-sized non-waterlogged soils. Medium resistant to late blight. To avoid premature germination requires cold (1 … 3 ° C) storage of tubers.

As a rule, the overwhelming majority of early varieties of tops are medium, the tubers are low-resistant to late blight, therefore, to avoid this disease, good germination of tubers is recommended so that the plants have time to complete their growing season before the fungal pathogen activates on the leaves.

Medium early potato varieties

Of the eight medium early varieties, we will focus on four high-yielding varieties:

Odysseus - with medium rounded-oval tubers (12-16 in a bush) with yellow skin and light yellow pulp (starch - 12.8-17%); is an intensive type variety with consistently high productivity. Highly resistant to viruses and late blight, drought resistant.

Archidea (U) - with rounded tubers (8-12 in the bush) with yellow peel and pulp (starch-16.5-21.1%). The good taste is retained during the entire storage period. Reacts negatively to waterlogging of the soil. It is inappropriate to use increased unbalanced doses of nitrogen fertilizers. Resistant to viruses, moderately resistant to late blight.

Neptune - with large elongated oval tubers (8-12 in the bush) with yellow skin and white pulp (starch - 11.8-14.2%). It responds well to an increase in the background of mineral nutrition. The resistance of the tops to late blight is average, the resistance of tubers is low.

In St. Petersburg, I have come across the Prigozhiy 2 (U) variety on sale. It has large, round-oval tubers (12-16 in a bush) with a yellow skin and creamy pulp (starch 11-17.5%). Medium resistant to late blight. The variety is undesirable for cultivation in areas where even short-term flooding is possible during the growing season; keeping quality is low.

The catalog contains nine mid-season potato varieties

Let's dwell only on some high-yielding and nematode-resistant ones:

Variety Zhivitsa - with rounded-oval tubers (10-14 in a bush) with a yellow skin and creamy pulp (starch 12.5-18%). It is characterized by a long physiological dormant period of tubers. Forms higher yields on light and medium soils, responds well to intensive growing conditions. With uneven growth, tubers tend to crack. Resistant to viral diseases, medium - late blight.

Color - with large oval-elongated tubers (8-10 in a bush) with pink skin and light yellow pulp (starch 12.8-18.7%). Medium resistant to late blight in leaves, weakly - in tubers. When planting, it requires a soil temperature not lower than 8 … 10 ° С.

Krinitsa - with rounded tubers (12-16 in the bush) with yellow skin and pulp (starch 14.4-19.7%). Medium resistant to late blight. It is characterized by excellent taste (good digestibility, tender pulp). Light and medium-sized soils are considered optimal for growing. Requires cold storage (1 … 3 ° C).

The entire Pskov region was "conquered" by the high-yielding variety Skarb, where it enjoys enormous popularity. It has large, oval, attractive-looking tubers (10-14 in a bush) with a yellow skin and pulp (starch-12-17%). This variety is unique in its yield, marketability and keeping quality; suitable for all types of soils, while effectively using their natural fertility; differs in high return on fertilizers applied. For faster and more uniform emergence, germination or heating before planting is recommended. The Scarb variety is moderately resistant to late blight.

Dewdrop - with large rounded-oval aligned tubers (9-12 in the bush) with yellow skin and light yellow pulp (starch 14-18%). Medium resistant to late blight. Reliable in extreme soil and climatic conditions of cultivation; keeping quality is very high.

Here are some interesting mid-late potatoes:

Vetraz (U) - with large rounded-oval tubers (10-14 in the bush) with yellow skin and light yellow pulp (starch 15-22%). It has an intensive yield accumulation and high marketability of tubers. Thickened planting and cold storage (2 … 3 ° C) are recommended to avoid premature germination of tubers (short dormancy period).

Guarantor - with medium round-oval tubers (10-14 per bush) with yellow skin and creamy pulp (starch 16-24.9%). Recommended for all types of soil. Highly resistant to late blight.

Zhuravinka (U) - with rounded-oval tubers (up to 18 in a bush) with red skin and light yellow pulp (starch - 14-19%). For growing for food needs, a more sparse planting is recommended. The cultivar has a negative attitude to the increased norms of nitrogen fertilizers. Medium resistant to late blight. Has a long dormant period of tubers.

I will list the late varieties of potatoes

- Climber, Atlant, Belorussky 3, Outlet, Zarnitsa, Zdabytak, Orbit, Pramen, Synthesis, Suzorie, Temp. Here you can distinguish the red-skinned (with white pulp) variety Zdabytak (U), highly resistant to late blight (up to 22 tubers per bush). It is characterized by a very high starch content - from 19 to 26%, which is recorded by all potato producers in the world!

Relatively low late blight resistance of Belarusian potato varieties, alas, is also characteristic of very many varieties bred in the Leningrad and Moscow regions. Therefore, amateur potato growers do not need to abandon their cultivation in our country because of such a "shortage" of a number of Belarusian varieties. You just need to work with these varieties and get excellent yields thanks to their "worked out" and high productivity.

Moreover, Belarusian scientists are significantly ahead of our North-West in terms of time and the number of varieties - they are ahead in the production of varieties resistant to the harmful potato golden nematode, which every year becomes more and more widespread both on state areas and on farm and amateur plots of Leningradskaya area.