2007 - Potatoes at WSU - Washington State University

INTRODUCTION
The 2007 Washington “Potato Cultivar Yield and Postharvest Quality Evaluations” annual report
provides detailed information about promising new potato cultivars and how they compare to
traditional reference varieties when grown in Washington. The data in this report are the result
of intensive in-field and postharvest research conducted by the Washington State University
(WSU) Potato Variety Development Program. Our objective is to identify new potato varieties
that will provide profitable, sustainable production for the grower, improved competitiveness for
the Washington potato industry, a healthy, inexpensive food supply for American consumers, and
contributions towards a healthy environment.
This book reports the results from five variety trials: Red and Specialty, Early-Harvest Tri-State,
Early-Harvest Regional, Late-Harvest Tri-State, and Late-Harvest Regional. The Tri-State trials
evaluate the newest clones coming from the Tri-State program (Washington, Oregon, and Idaho) and
the Regional Trials evaluate advanced clones that have graduated from the Tri-State in addition to
advanced clones from other programs.
The majority of the potato clones and cultivars evaluated in this report came from USDA/ARS
funded breeding programs located at Aberdeen, ID and Prosser, WA. Additional clones and cultivars
came from Oregon State University, Colorado State University, Texas A&M, North Dakota State
University, University of Minnesota, USDA/ARS Beltsville, and Vauxhall, Alberta, Canada. The
WSU Potato Variety Development Program is aided in research, administrative detail, and funding
by the Washington State Potato Commission, the Northwest (Tri-State) Potato Variety Development
Program (Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, USDA/ARS), the Western Coordinating Committee 27
(WERA-27), and other members of the U.S. potato industry.
We do our best to provide meaningful information that can be used by growers, processors, freshpack
sheds, researchers, and other industry personnel. The results from this year’s trials are
presented in “user-friendly” graphs, figures, and charts. An economic analysis was conducted on
all clones and cultivars for both the fresh and process markets, with the exception of the red and
specialty clones. We also provide a merit rating for each cultivar within a specific market. The
cultivars are ranked according to their overall performance which takes into account economics,
yields, tuber-size profiles, tuber quality and many post-harvest attributes. It is our hope that this
report is useful and easy to understand.
Accomplishments in 2007:
As a result of the Northwest Potato Variety Development Program’s efforts, more than 26 percent
of the 2007 PNW acreage was planted with varieties released by the program. In Washington State
alone, these varieties accounted for more than 32% of the 2007 acreage, with a farm-gate value of
approximately $160,000,000. The increase in acreage devoted to NWPVD varieties has been 5-fold
since 1997. Recent NWPVD releases, Ranger and Umatilla, have had a significant impact on the
processing industry, accounting for 23% and 12% of WA processing potatoes in 2007, respectively.
New NWPVD clones released this year include A84180-8 and A88338-1. More information is
available for each clone at: www.potatoes.wsu.edu.
2007 Potato Cultivar Evaluations 4 WSU Potato Research Group