WILD POTATO (SOLANUM SECT PETOTA) GERMPLASM COLLECTING EXPEDITION TO ARGENTINA IN 1990, AND STATUS OF ARGENTINEAN POTATO GERMPLASM RESOURCES

A joint Argentina/United States expedition collected wild potato (Sola num sect. Petota) germplasm in Argentina between February 4 - 28 and M arch 28 - April 18, 1990. This was followed by a short expedition betw een February 27 and March 3, 1991. Collections were made in the Andes Mountains from southern Tucuman Province (27-degrees 20'S), south to s outhern Rio Negro Province (40-degrees 52'S) and comprised 88 lots of germplasm of ten species, 76 as true-seed and 12 as tubers. The most i mportant new collections included germplasm of S. brevidens, S. maglia , S. x rechei and S. venturii. By summarizing details of these collect ions with those of existing collections, we have been able to suggest future collecting in Argentina.