PRODUCTION AND USE OF SEEDLING TUBERS FROM TRUE POTATO SEED (TPS) FORPOTATO CULTIVATION IN ITALY

The effect of varying plant population on the production of tubers fro m potato seedlings was investigated during 1992 and 1993 using three d ifferent plant densities: 35, 70, 100 plants/m(2). Increasing the plan t population significantly increased the number of tubers produced, bu t no significant difference was found between the plant densities of 7 0 and 100 plants/m(2). The seedling tubers produced in nursery beds we re tested in the field for ware potato production using different size d tubers. The best performances were obtained using tubers 30-40 mm. S ignificant differences were evident among the 7 true potato seed (TPS) families used, but data grouped by type of cross did not indicate any significant difference between 4Xx4X and 4Xx2X crossing groups.