Evaluation of a Landrace Potato Kumdi Performance and Attributed Traits Across Three Different Agro-Ecological Zones in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea

This study was conducted to assess attributed traits and economic performances of the landrace Kumdi potato cultivar in comparison to the existing commercial varieties at three different agro-environments in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Several field trials were conducted over two cropping seasons using a complete randomized block design with five replicates. The landrace Kumdi and the two released varieties (E2 and E24) were found to be highly resistant (90 – 100%) to potato late blight (PLB) disease, whereas Sequoia is known to be highly susceptible and was successfully controlled with fungicide applications across all sites. The results indicated significant variation for the Genotypes, Environments and Genotype by Environment interactions. The marketable and total yield (t ha-1) for Sequoia was higher than the yields of the other three genotypes across all sites. Kumdi appeared to be the most stable cultivar across the three environments by using various stability analysis parameters. The fresh boiled and fried chips consumer preferences for Kumdi and Sequoia were highly prepared followed by E2 and E24, but the consumers’ preferences for all these varieties were above 50% like to compare to the moderately like and dislike preferences. Profit margins varied across locations with Kumdi having a greater profit margin for Yawar while E2 and E24 showed a greater profit margin for Pepik and Aiyura respectively while Sequoia had the highest production cost due to PLB management. Overall, Kumdi had acceptable traits of being resistant to PLB infestation, are most stable across all tested environments, and had acceptable profit margins with highly preferred sensory preferences. Based on these findings, the landrace Kumdi cultivar is strongly recommended for further research to verify these results using clean planting materials and possibly be included in the formal seed system