8. Management system for potato breeder seeds

Seed quality is determined by the quality of seed sources such as nuclear seeds and breeder seeds. It is also affected by the management of a seed production system. Since Indonesian seed regulations require that varieties of certified seed be defined and harmonized, this potato seed system serves as the model that is being evaluated and assessed towards developing standard procedures in maintaining and producing breeder seeds. RIV is mandated by AARD to develop such standard procedures. To improve the system, standard guides and protocols to produce nucleur and breeder seeds are described. For nucleur seed, pathogen-free plantlets are first produced to serve as the mother plants. The preliminary pathogen-free plantlets are further classified as nuclear seeds and used as sources of single-stem cutting and axillary stem cutting materials to produce the G0 (generation zero) stock for subsequent propagation. The management system for potato breeder seeds has four component tasks: (1) to arrange a national standard guideline for producing nuclear and breeder seeds, (2) to harmonize important descriptors for potato following the existing regulations of IPGRI, CIP and UPOV, (3) enable the Unit Production of Breeder Seeds (UPBS) to manage a system of producing and distributing breeder seeds using a standard procedure, and (4) to manage quality control and seed distribution