The genotype BRS Ana is a new potato cultivar adequate for French fries, with potential for processing into frozen French fries and flakes, released in 2007. It was developed by the Embrapa Potato Breeding Program (Embrapa Temperate Agriculture, Pelotas-RS; Embrapa Transference of Technology, Office of Canoinhas-SC; and Embrapa Vegetables, Brasília-DF), based on tuber appearance and yield, specific gravity and French fries quality. Tubers are red-skinned, lightly rough, oval shaped with shallow eyes. The pulp is white. Cultivar BRS Ana has high yield potential. In the subtropical ecosystem, cultivar BRS Ana showed higher yield (31.2 t ha-1) than the most used cultivars in Brazil when grown in autumn, and did not differ from them in the spring. In the tropical ecosystem, under irrigation, BRS Ana did not differ from both control cultivars. It produced higher percentage of marketable tubers (55.6%) and average tuber weight (108.4 g) than the controls in the fall crop of subtropical ecosystem. In both ecosystems, cultivar BRS Ana presented high specific gravity (1.086) and dry matter content (19.7%). The sensorial analysis showed that cultivar BRS Ana is adequate for home made French fries as well as for industrial processing. It is moderately susceptible to late blight (Phytophthora infestans) and presents good resistance to early blight (Alternaria solani). The reaction to the tuber soft rot (Pectobacterium sp.) is similar to the most used cultivars. It has low seed degeneration conferred by moderate resistance to PVY and low incidence of PLRV. Susceptibility to tuber physiological disorders has not been observed. It seems that BRS Ana has lower fertilizer and water requirements than the most planted cultivars, meaning reduction of crop cost and risk. In the subtropical ecosystem, tuberization starts later in spring, therefore BRS Ana should be planted earlier in the season.
Solanum tuberosum; cultivar; breeding
