Drought Tolerance in Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)

To promote tolerance mechanisms without compromising tuber yield, study of limited irrigation techniques in potato is the most efficient definition of both the timing of water shortage initiation. This implicate a better study of the molecular and physiological mechanisms involved in tuberization and drought tolerance in different genotypes and environments. Another challenge is to define the yield components that are critically affected by water stress and the combination of traits that enhance drought tolerance without penalizing tuber yield. Genetic studies pointed that drought tolerance tend to be environment specific and dependent upon soil type, light intensity, and evaporative demands, among others. Consequently, it is recommanded to normalize the assessed trait values by the transpiration in potato in order to characterize the expected drought response with respect to the target environments.