Wild potato species

Potato originates from South America. During the 16th century the first potato tubers arrived in Europe and were spread over the continent. It took almost three centuries for the European people to discover the potato as a food crop. From the 19th century onwards the cultivation extended dramatically. Because of the limited introduction of a few tubers in the centuries before the genetic base was very narrow. This poor base caused an epidemic appearance of diseases with no resistance in the potato cultivars at all. For example: in the middle of the 19th century the potato disease Phytophthora infestans caused complete losses of the potato harvest and therefore a severe famine in a number of countries. In contrast to this poor genetic variation almost 200 different potato species are found in South America. Amongst these species we can find cultivated ones, but also very wild plants. They represent a tremendous richness of interesting properties like resistance to diseases. In the first half of the 20th century crossings between a number of wild potato species made a start in introgression breeding. Nowadays we can find quite a number of resistance genes from Mexican species (late blight) and Peruvian and Bolivian species (potato cyst nematode) in the European potato varieties.

	Wild potato species Potato originates from South America. During the 16th century the first potato tubers arrived in Europe and were spread over the continent. It took almost three centuries for the European people to discover the potato as a food crop. From the 19th century onwards the cultivation extended dramatically. Because of the limited introduction of a few tubers in the centuries before the genetic base was very narrow. This poor base caused an epidemic appearance of diseases with no resistance in the potato cultivars at all. For example: in the middle of the 19th century the potato disease Phytophthora infestans caused complete losses of the potato harvest and therefore a severe famine in a number of countries. In contrast to this poor genetic variation almost 200 different potato species are found in South America. Amongst these species we can find cultivated ones, but also very wild plants. They represent a tremendous richness of interesting properties like resistance to diseases. In the first half of the 20th century crossings between a number of wild potato species made a start in introgression breeding. Nowadays we can find quite a number of resistance genes from Mexican species (late blight) and Peruvian and Bolivian species (potato cyst nematode) in the European potato varieties.