Schittenhelm, S. and R. Hoekstra (1995) Recommended isolation distances for the field multiplication of diploid tuber-bearing Solanum species. Plant-Breeding 114: 369-371.

Abstract

The sexual propagation of gene bank accessions by hand pollination in the greenhouse is a very expensive and time consuming routine task. The self incompatibility of most diploid potato species allows their multiplication in isolated field plots, which is coupled with the advantage of the presence of natural pollinators and maintenance of a high level of heterozygosity. The isolation distance required for minimizing pollen flow between neighbouring multiplication plots was investigated. S. phureja clone IVP48 was used as the pollen donor as it carries the dominant seed marker embryo spot. The centrally located pollen donor was surrounded by S. phureja recipient plots, consisting of 25 S. phureja genotypes recessive at the marker locus, at distances of 10, 20, 40 and 80 m. Average pollen contamination ranged from 0.2% in the plots 80 m from the pollen donor to 5.1% in those 10 m away. Procedures are suggested which help to reduce cross pollination between accessions.