New lowland potato variety up for commercialization

A new lowland potato variety is ready for adoption.

Called Raniag, it was developed by a joint team of scientists and researchers of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) and the Peru-based Centro Internacional de La Papa (CIP, or International Potato Center).

MMSU, currently headed by its lady president, Dr. Miriam Pascua, is a multicampus university in Ilocos Norte whose seat of administration is the main campus in Batac town.

The MMSU-CIP team was composed of Beatriz S. Malab, Noralyn Bacnat, Marissa Atis, and Enrique Chujoy.

A report on Raniag (an Iloko term for brilliance or brightness) was among the AFMA (Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act) R&D Papers presented at the 18th DA-BAR National Research Symposium last Oct. 4-5.

In their report, the team pointed out that potato (usually a highland crop) can be cultivated in the hot lowlands of Ilocos Norte and Cagayan during the dry season. However, cultivation depends on limited supply and quality of seed tubers produced in the highlands.

Also, lowland varieties are not suited to diffuse light storage (DLS).

In 1991, new potato clones and cultivars were introduced and evaluated from 1992 to 1999 in the lowlands.

Farmers participated in the selection of the outstanding potato clones for advanced on-farm valuation.

Potato clone CIP 385130.11 gave an outstanding performance, the team noted. It consistently outyielded the check variety Berolina.

The clone was subsequently approved for release as Philippine Seedboard variety by the National Seed Industry Council (NSIC, formerly PSB) and was called Raniag locally and Eben internationally.

Raniag is early maturing (75-80 days) and high-yielding (18.96 tons per hectare average yield for eight years).

Its tuber is round, its skin is white, and its flesh is pale yellow. It has good eating quality, can be processed into chips, and its seeds can be stored in DLS for eight months.

"Growing Raniag is profitable in the lowlands and storing seed adds to farmers’ income. It is expected that the lowland table and seed potato production will be sustained with the introduction of Raniag," the MMSU-CIP team concluded. – Rudy A. Fernandez