Irish
potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is an
important crop in Zimbabwe due to its nutritional and economic worth. The
upgrading of its status to a strategic food crop by the government in 2012 has
created the need for research to increase production, increase germplasm and
diversify staple food crops. A study to
investigate the yield potential of new Irish potato
varieties was carried out at the Scientific Industrial Research and Development
Centre between June and November 2015. Aim of the study was to evaluate new
varieties to introduced and released in Zimbabwe. The varieties BRI1,
BRI2, BRI3, BRI4, BRI5, BRI6 and BRI7 were grown with the controls being locally
released varieties Amethyst and BP1 which are long and short season varieties
respectively. The experiment was laid out in a randomised complete block design
with 9 treatments and slope as the blocking factor. Analysis of variance was
done using Genstat 14th edition. Data on yield, number of days to 50
% flowering and number of days to 95 % maturity was recorded. Analysis of variance
showed that there was a significant difference (P<0.05) in the yield of
potatoes due to variety. BRI6 and BRI3 achieved the highest yields of
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-fareast-language:
EN-GB">69.63 and 58.89 t/ha respectively. BP1
and BRI7 had the lowest yields of 13.22 and
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-fareast-language:
EN-GB">9.89 t/ha respectively. There was a significant difference (P<0.05)
in number of days to 50 % flowering due to variety. Amethyst and BRI7 took the
highest number of days to 50 % flowering of 30.33 and 29 respectively. BRI6 and
BRI1 took the least number of days to 50 % flowering of 17 and 16.67
respectively. There was a significant difference (P<0.05) on the number of
days to reach 95 % maturity due to variety. BRI7 and BRI5 took the longest number
of days to reach maturity with 139.3 and 136.7 respectively. BRI1 and BP1 took
the least number of days to maturity with 100 days each. The research concluded
that the new varieties had a higher yield potential. BRI6 had the highest yield
followed by BRI3, BRI2, BRI2, BRI4, BRI5, Amethyst, BP1 and BRI1. The varieties
BRI7, BRI5, BRI3, BRI4, BRI2, BRI6 and Amethyst are long season varieties while
mso-ansi-language:EN-US">BRI1 and BP1 are short season varieties. A multi
locational trial is required to determine the yield potential of the varieties
in the different farming regions of the country. The varieties should also be
screened for drought tolerance, pest and disease resistance.
