POTATO, POTATO: FIELD INSIGHTS TO SELECTING AND BREEDING FOR HAIL RESILIENCE IN POTATO CULTIVARS

Climate change has led to a significant increase in the frequency and intensity of hailstorms, posing a major threat to produce supply and tuber quality in the potato industry. This study investigated yield and tuber quality hail recovery responses of four potato cultivars to different hail intensities, aiming to develop a cultivar-driven strategy for hail resilience. Field experiments were conducted during the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 seasons, using a 5 [0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% canopy disruption levels] × 4 [early- (Sababa), mid- (Tyson, Mondial), and late-maturing (Panamera) cultivars] factorial arrangement in a randomized complete block design. Data collected included yield, tuber grading, dry matter and starch recovery. Yield and tuber quality recovery were statistically consistent across seasons (P > 0.05), indicating that seasonal variation did not influence yield or quality traits. Therefore, values were averaged across the two seasons to provide a single comparative estimate for each cultivar. Panamera exhibited superior yield recovery (63.75%), large tuber recovery (88.61%), dry matter recovery (66.36%) and starch content recovery (56.36%) across planting seasons. The superior recovery was attributed to its high yield potential and environmental adaptability, supported by a higher canopy cover and long growing season enabling extended recovery. Sababa, on the other hand, even though it had lower recovery in other traits, maintained relatively high starch recovery (52.8%), which was statistically similar to Panamera. This suggests that Sababa adopts a more conservative allocation strategy, prioritizing starch biosynthesis under hail stress over other traits. This recovery is likely supported by elevated ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase), a key enzyme in starch biosynthesis, which may have enabled Sababa to sustain starch production and retention despite canopy damage. These traits can be exploited for cultivar selection and breeding to reduce climate-related risks in hail-prone potato-producing regions.