nl
de
Menu
Averis Seeds BV grows new starch potato varieties at the breeding company in Valthermond. Varieties that distinguish themselves with new or improved characteristics: disease resistance, yield and product quality. This is how our varieties contribute to the sustainable breeding of starch potatoes with growing returns.
Every year new crossbreeds are made between parent breeds that contain the desired properties and that can pass them on to their offspring for the breeding programme. The aim is to obtain offspring that combine the desired characteristics of both parents as much as possible. The seeds are isolated from the berries obtained in this way.
The rest – the lion’s share of the breeding process – consists of selecting the best offspring. The properties of the offspring have to be reliably determined. Sufficient potatoes are needed for this purpose, and the effective propagation of new clones is therefore a condition for selection from the very word go. Molecular markers are increasingly being used for selection purposes. These markers make it possible to predict whether an offspring has certain characteristics on the basis of DNA.
After a minimum of six years of testing, breeding quality clones that add value to the existing range varieties are subjected to practical tests on a larger scale. This breeding programme gives us an insight into the behaviour, yield and suitability for storage of the candidate breeds in farming practice.
Candidates with added value that holds up in practice are registered for the list of varieties and are eventually included in the range that is commercially available for members of the Avebe cooperative.