Current status of the TPS technology in the world

Summary The availability of improved True Potato Seed (TPS) varieties for short and long photoperiod conditions has recently increased the interest in the TPS technology. A summarized overview is presented of the TPS technology for potato tuber production, TPS breeding and production. TPS competes successfully with clonal cultivars in Egypt and India. In other developing countries higher yields and better adaptation are needed to make the TPS technology economically attractive; the case of TPS in Indonesia is used to illustrate this. In industrialised countries, well-performing seed tuber programmes, productivity and legislative restrictions are difficult to beat by TPS. However, the use of TPS can be economically attractive where disease pressure is high. It is concluded that TPS has a place within potato systems where agroecological conditions for seed tuber systems and steady supply of good quality tubers from a formal seed programme are most constrained. Further genetic improvement will increase the areas where TPS provides better and cheaper planting material.