CHARACTERIZATION AND EVALUATION OF SOME POTATO CLONES REGARDING THE BEHAVIOR TO HYDRIC STRESS IN VITRO CONDITIONS.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), the third (after wheat, corn and rice), most important food in the world is currently suffering from climate change. The potato crop is strongly influenced by the amount of precipitation and their distribution. The present study was conducted to determine the cultural behavior, respectively the response to hydric stress of some clones from the National Institute of Research and Development for Potato and Sugar Beet Brasov. Two factors were tested: factor I - potato breeding lines 27; factor II – culture medium (clasic medium Murashige –Skoog and medium Murashige –Skoog with osmotic agent). 1982/3 clone was identified with high values and significant differences in case of medium with PEG in 2% concentration, for the number of leaves/plantlets and for root lenght. Also, 1939/2 clone was identified with high values for the number of leaves/plantlets and 1982/1 clone for the root length. 1958/3 clone presented high values for two of the analyzed parameters: plantlet length and fresh plantlets weight, when was applied PEG 2% in the nutrition medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]