Shaping the Future of Potatoes in Sichuan: Breeding Strategies and Their Impact

Both Sichuan’s potato production area and total yield remain among the largest in China. The province’s unique geographic features support year-round planting and supply, delivering strong economic and social benefits.

In the low-altitude Chengdu Plains (500 masl), new high-yield potato varieties with yellow skin and flesh, and mid-early maturity are cultivated. Winter cultivation involves November planting and harvesting in March–May, while autumn cultivation involves September planting and harvesting in December–January.

In the middle-high altitude Penzhou mountain area (1000–1500 masl), medium-late varieties with high yield, strong quality, and disease resistance are grown. Planting occurs from January–March, with harvests from June–August.

In the Sichuan Plateau (3000–3500 masl), ethnic minorities cultivate late-maturing, high-starch potatoes with excellent disease, cold, and drought resistance. Seeds are sown March–April and harvested September–October.

Late blight remains one of the most important challenges. Breeding new varieties with broad-spectrum resistance to late blight is seen as the most effective guarantee for potato production in Sichuan’s mid- to high-altitude areas.

Breeding Strategy

The Crop Research Institute (CRI) of the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences maintains a comprehensive germplasm bank, including resources from international institutions such as the International Potato Center (CIP), Argentina (INTA), Scotland (JHI), Belgium, Vietnam, Canada, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Qinghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Huasong Seed Industry Co., Ltd., and local Sichuan varieties.

Evaluating these resources for yield, quality, and stress resistance has laid the foundation for breeding varieties suited to Sichuan’s three distinct ecological zones. Shuttle breeding at high and low altitudes has accelerated clone selection and breeding efficiency.

• Many CIP-derived germplasms show strong late blight resistance, offering excellent parental material for mid- and high-altitude varieties.
• Early-maturing varieties from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences have performed well in the Chengdu Plains and are highly popular.
• Cooperation with Huasong Seed Industry has led to new early-maturing potato varieties.
• Gene-editing technology is being used to improve resistance traits, with new disease-resistant germplasms already obtained.

Public and Private Partnerships

CRI has long worked on potato breeding, cultivation physiology, green cultivation technology, and seed systems using aeroponics. Nurseries and seed potato bases are located in both low and high-altitude zones. Selected varieties include high-yield early potatoes for the Chengdu Plain and late-blight-resistant, drought- and cold-tolerant varieties for higher altitudes.

Winter potato cultivation in the lowland Chengdu plains at 500 masl.

The unique climate of the West Sichuan Plateau—fertile soil, long sunlight, and wide day-night temperature differences—supports flowering and hybrid breeding. A 100 m² greenhouse there supports parental cultivation and hybrid screening.

CRI also collaborates internationally:

• Since 1985, Dr. Peter VanderZaag (CIP) has provided technical guidance, exchange, and support, contributing greatly to Sichuan’s breeding program.
• Dalat Potato, Vegetables and Flowers Research Center (Vietnam) supports hybrid evaluations with CIP germplasm, led by Dr. Pham Xuan Tung.
• Sichuan Normal University partners with CRI on gene-editing for disease resistance and variety improvement (e.g., Chuanyu 50).

Results

Potato program of CRI has long cooperated with domestic and foreign research institutions (International Potato Center, Argentina, Scotland, Netherlands, Belgium, Vietnam, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Huasong Seed Industry Co., LTD.), engaged in the introduction, screening and evaluation of potato germplasm resources. CRI maintains the Sichuan Provincial Genebank with excellent germplasm resources from China and abroad.

In the past few decades, the ecological advantages of high and low altitudes and shuttle breeding methods in Sichuan have been used to carry out the selection and breeding of a large number of new potato varieties with high yield, high quality, disease resistance and stress resistance have been released.

The released varieties include Chuanyu117, Chuanyu 50, Chuanyu 85, Chuanyu 62, Chuanyu 65 which are all widely grown (Table 1). These new varieties were bred from the seeds of hybrid combinations introduced by CIP. T50 was bred from parents 392634.52 and 392626.9 from CIP and was registered as a new non-major crop variety by the Department of Agriculture in 2019.

The variety has high resistance to late blight and virus disease, strong cold and drought resistance, high yield, high dry matter and high starch, and wide adaptability. At present, this variety has been widely popularized in Chengdu plain and plateau mountainous areas, helping farmers increase their income and rural revitalization. In the past ten years, the CRI has collected and evaluated local germplasm resources in the whole province, and preserved and registered a number of excellent local varieties that meet the dietary habits of local people. These were freed of all pathogens through meristem culture, accurately identification and registered.

Lessons Learned

International exchanges and cooperation with relevant research institutions abroad and nationally, promoted the introduction, screening and evaluation of excellent germplasm resources, enriched the genebank, and identified a group of excellent parental materials.

Accelerate the accurate identification of excellent materials and related gene mining, laying a foundation for the creation of new materials by molecular marker-assisted breeding and gene editing.

Improve breeding methods, increase breeding efficiency, make good use of backbone parent materials, and speed up the cultivation of breakthrough disease resistance and resistance of high yield and high-quality new varieties.

The diverse topography, geomorphology environmental characteristics in Sichuan along with the different ethnic, diet and farming culture differences makes for a challenging and interesting experience in developing new varieties for each of the 3 zones in Sichuan.

Selecting clones from hybrid crosses in the Chengdu Plains greenhouse