Development of plant architecture and its influence on tuber production in crops produced from different propagules of hybrid potato

Plant architecture plays an essential role in regulating plant growth and development, and branching is one of the most important characteristics in determining plant architecture in potato. Branching is highly plastic in potato plants. It can be influenced by environmental factors such as light, by genotype and by plant physiological factors. In addition, the novel hybrid potato technology makes it realistic to grow potato tubers from various starting materials (or propagules), including true potato seed (or a seedling transplant), seedling tuber and seed tuber. Architectural differences exist in potato plants grown from different propagules, especially in development of number of stems and types of branches, even within the same genotype. To better understand the role of branching in assimilate production and partitioning for the plant and the whole crop when potato are grown from different starting materials, we propose to use a combined experimental and modelling approach in this study. First, branching patterns will be studied using three propagules of the same genotype. The photosynthesis contribution of leaves at various positions within the canopy of crops from different propagules will be examined. Second, a 3D functional-structural potato plant model will be developed to quantify the contribution of each branch to assimilate production and allocation. Third, a simulation study will be conducted to design ideotypes of plant architecture for improvement of hybrid potato tuber production.