Disease Resistance and Nutritional Properties of Tuber- Bearing Native Potato Species and Old Spanish Cultivars

Abstract

Certain potato cultivars such as native potato spec ies (NPS) from the Andes are known to have resistances to different pests and diseases . Some accessions are also interesting from a nutritional and culinary perspective. A coll ection of 35 NPS and 11 old Spanish accessions were analysed for Streptomyces scabies , Rhizoctonia solani and Globodera rostochiensis , as well as dry matter, reducing sugars, minerals, glycoalkaloid concentrations, and total antioxidant capacity. A w ide variability was found between and also within the species. Most accessions showed fav ourable characteristics, while high concentrations values of glycoalkaloids were observ ed in certain accessions. The results suggest that some NPS and old Spanish accessions ha ve a great potential for exploitation in potato breeding programmes as a source of resist ances and nutritional variability. Keywords : Antioxidant capacity, Breeding, Glycoalkaloids, P athogens.