After combining Solanum acaule and Solanum commersonii varieties delivered by US Potato Genebank (USPG) – both of them wild potatoes native to South America – an international team of scientists created a new spud type called Wiñay during their scientific search for a tuber species tolerant to frost.

Experts from the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), their associates from Peru, and the ones from the University of Wisconsin (UW) – Madison’s Department of Agriculture spent several years evaluating potato species from USPG for frost tolerance.

Because Solanum acaule and Solanum commersonii potato species showed the greatest ability to tolerate frost, the team of experts combined these two species and evaluated the hybrids, selecting some parents that both withstood snap frosts and developed tolerance to much colder frosts.

According to John Bamberg, director of the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s US Potato Genebank (USPG) in Sturgeon Bay, cited by High Plains Journal, before the final selection, the cultivars underwent rigorous testing to determine their tolerance to cold.

The team used a combination of natural frost, a modified household freezer set to mimic natural frost overnight, and a precise lab test to measure exactly how much the cell membranes had been damaged.

Based on Bamberg’s statements, like in all other cases of potato breeding, it took years of testing and selecting among thousands of offspring to pick one worthy of being a new cultivar, this time the winner being named “Wiñay – INIA 330.”

The ‘fresh’ potato variety has been thereafter tested by the Peruvian research partners in their country. They grew the new cultivar in multiple regions, during multiple seasons and evaluated grower and consumer reactions. As a result, Wiñay showed good yields, frost hardiness, and farmer and consumer acceptance. The frost-resistant potato is long and thin with brown skin and yellow flesh.

Frost damage can happen in different places, and at different times, across the US, experts say. Two years ago, potato farmers in eastern Idaho alone lost about 30% of their crop to damage from unseasonable frost.

Developing a new potato variety to withstand such conditions is a time-consuming project, one that typically requires 10 to 15 years to bring to fruition.

ARS research partners were Jiwan Palta from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Agriculture, Alfonso del Rio (senior scientist in charge of the U.S. Potato Genebank research lab at UW), William Roca, Alberto Salas, and Rene Gomez from Peru’s International Potato Center, respectively Jesus Arcos from the Instituto Nacional de Innovacion Agraria in Puno.