PERFORMANCE OF THE THIRD GENERATION OF VEGETATIVE PROPAGATED GAMMA IRRADIATION INDUCED MUTANT (MV3) POTATO CROPS EXPOSED TO WATER DEFICIT AT MEDIUM ELEVATION

Due to its complex ploidy levels, potato crop improvement by hybridization becomes very difficult. It involves
endosperm balance number (EBN) that makes hybridization more complicated. Because of this, more researchers
employ induced mutation, which is done by irradiating plant materials by gamma rays at designated levels, as an
alternative method for potato crop improvement. The objective of this experiment was to study the performance
of potato crops (MV3 generation) exposed to water deficit at medium elevation. Potato seeds (MV3) were grown
in the greenhouse at 600 m above sea level and exposed to different level of water stress regimes. Some MV3
UNIB promising clones (KHSTM-7; KHSTM-8, and KHSTM-9) were found to be suitable for medium elevation
having daily temperature of 28oC. However, when exposed to drought stress induced by 10% of PEG8000, most
of the clones showed significant yield loss (up to 86%).