NEW DELHI: The Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) has identified two new hybrid varieties of potato.

The `kufri chipsona-3' can be used by the food processing industry to make chips and flakes and `kufri himalini' is identified for commercial cultivation in hilly regions.

Kufri chipsona-3 has higher protein, potassium and calcium content and is suitable for people with high blood pressure. It has higher dry matter yields than other existing varieties, making it suitable for preparing dehydrated products, including chips. It is easy-to-cook, has excellent flavour with a pleasing aroma when boiled or baked, and does not discolour after cooking. There is no cracking, hollow heart or deformation — problems which are encountered in existing varieties. The hybrid has excellent processing qualities even after six months of on-farm storage at intermediate temperatures, thus providing raw material to the food processing industry almost round the year.

The hybrid variety, identified for the north Indian Plains, gives higher yields at 333 quintal a hectare compared to earlier varieties of kufri chipsona-1 (278 q/ha) and kufri chipsona-2 (272 q/ha). Its round-oval shape makes for low peeling losses and it is resistant to late blight disease. The ICAR has identified kufri himalini for commercial cultivation in hilly regions. Late blight has intensified over the last few years, and resistance to the disease has been decreasing in existing varieties of kufri jyoti and kufri giriraj. The new variety, with medium maturity of 110-120 days, has been recommended for cultivation in the north-western and north-eastern hills during summer.

These hybrid varieties were identified at the recently held meeting of the All-India Coordinated Potato Improvement Project at Udaipur.

India is the third largest producer of potatoes in the world with a production of about 23.12 million tonnes (mt) from about 1.27 million hectares with 18.2 tonnes a hectare productivity during 2003-04.

West Bengal tops in potato productivity with 24.7 tonnes/ha followed by Haryana with 24.6 t/ha, Gujarat with 23.9 t/ha and Uttar Pradesh with 20.9 t/ha.

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