It became known which potato varieties withstood the heat best

In the village of Usychi, Lutsk district in the Volyn region, elite potato varieties of Ukrainian, German, and French breeding were shown during a “Field Day” 47. Farmers, scientists, and individual growers were shown how different potato varieties coped with this year’s weather conditions. This was reported by Glavkom citing Suspilne Luts'k.

The event organizer, Volyn farmer Vasyl Arshulik, noted that this year’s heat and lack of moisture negatively affected most potato varieties. According to him, the French variety Atol and the German variety Larisa withstood the difficult conditions best.

“The planting was late. On this field it was 15 May. It was dry here; 70 mm of precipitation fell over 3 months, which was little, and we had to, in order to support the plants, we spread a drip and added another 70 mm (of water) so that we could show it to you now,” the farmer told Suspilne.

Arshulik noted that new potato varieties are researched throughout the entire period—from planting to ripening.

Farmers, scientists, and people who grow potatoes on their own farms attended the presentation. In particular, a teacher from the village of Derno in Volyn, Mykhailo Kovalchuk, grows potatoes for his own needs on 10 sotkas and every year adds two new varieties to his farm.

“I attached hilling devices to the walk-behind tractor, my wheels are already set to the track. With my grandson we laid out the potatoes, covered them with our feet and that’s it. I’ve been digging at home since mid-June; I started with ‘Corazon,’ and now I’m digging ‘Korinna,’ so I’m satisfied. Maybe it was a bit dry, but I’m satisfied. We’ll be fine with the potatoes!” the Volyn resident said.

Head of the laboratory of the scientific-production association Chernigivelitkartoplia, Hennadiy Haistruk, said that creating a new potato variety is a lengthy process. According to him, breeders may need up to 12 years of work.

“To obtain a new variety, you need to take the pollen of one variety, perform pollination, and such a berry-seed appears. It ripens, we dry it to a raisin-like state, in laboratory conditions we wash them, dry them, plant them in greenhouses and they grow. We select the single-tuber plants that we need. If the task is to grow a red skin — we take a red one,” the specialist explained.

In Volyn, 99% of the potato harvest is grown by villagers. According to the head of the regional department of the agro-industrial development department, Oleksandr Knysh, this year agricultural enterprises sowed about 500 hectares for the potato crop.

The official noted that this year’s weather conditions—from cold spells to extreme heat and moisture deficit—have affected yields.

“Less than 1% of potatoes are grown by agricultural enterprises; in hectares, about 500 hectares were sown for this year’s crop. We all witnessed difficult weather conditions: there were cold periods and extremely hot ones. There was a lack of moisture: in some places there was, and in others there was none at all. This could not but affect yields. So there is no basis to say that this year will be very bountiful,” Knysh added.

At the same time, he said that despite the difficult weather conditions, there should be enough potatoes in Volyn.

Earlier, candidate of biological sciences and senior researcher at the Potato Institute of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences (NAAS) Nataliya Zakharchuk named to Glavkom the potato varieties that are currently popular among gardeners and suitable for cultivation in Ukraine’s climate.

Glavkom wrote that in Volyn this year potatoes were not treated for Colorado potato beetle for the first time in 30 years. Specialists link this to atypical weather conditions. At the same time, agrometeorologists noted that due to the anomalous heat, potatoes are suffering more from weather conditions than from pests.