Abstract: Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) stands as the fourth most important food crop globally, following rice, wheat, and maize, playing a vital role in ensuring food and nutritional security across many developing regions. However, traditional potato cultivation is heavily reliant on vegetative propagation through seed tubers, which constitute approximately 30–40% of the total production cost. The bulky nature, perishability, high storage and transportation costs, and vulnerability to seed-borne diseases pose significant limitations to the scalability, sustainability, and resilience of the potato production system. As an innovative and potentially transformative alternative, True Potato Seed (TPS)—the botanical seed derived from sexual reproduction—offers a promising solution to these challenges. This research paper provides an in-depth examination of the TPS technology, encompassing its breeding methodology, agronomic benefits, artificial pollination procedures, seed extraction techniques, and post-harvest handling practices. TPS is produced through controlled hybridization between male and female parental lines with desirable traits such as disease resistance, early maturity, high yield potential, and uniform tuber characteristics. The process involves the meticulous selection of hybrid combinations, manual pollination to induce berry formation, and systematic seed extraction methods such as the blender technique, as practiced in research stations like HRS, Nagicherra. Post-extraction, the seeds undergo acid treatment to mitigate seed-borne pathogens and are then dried and stored with silica gel for long-term viability.
Keywords: Nutrition, Propagation, Disease, Scalability, Sustainability and Breeding
Author: Anabil Ghosh, Aditya Kumar, Garvita Jaiswal and D K Choudhary
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