Role of Tissue Culture as Applied in Seed Potato Multiplication to Improve Food Security: A Review

Abstract

Rapid population growth, natural and man-made factors (COVID-19 and the lack of a social safety net) have led to an increase in the demand for food, which calls for significant improvements to the food system worldwide to supply food more efficiently with the same or fewer resources. Potatoes have great potential to con- tribute to food security and incomes for rural smallholder farmers, as well as pro- vide nutritious, affordable food for urban consumers. The availability of dis- ease-free and certified seed potatoes of better-performing varieties remains li- mited. The use of tissue culture to provide a disease-free seed potato is therefore crucial to ensuring food security. A key goal of this paper is to summarize the work done on various aspects of seed potato multiplication, and how it can im- prove the food security of smallholder farmers. The systematic review method was applied to summarize how tissue culture application can produce excess dis- ease-free seed potatoes to improve food availability for marginal farmers. The most effective way for farmers in developing countries or areas prone to natural or man-made disasters to increase their incomes and improve nutrition is to use high-quality certified seeds. Tissue cultures are used worldwide to produce pre-basic, virus-free seed potatoes. Early Generation Seed (micro-tubers, cuttings and mini-tuber), multiplication of mother plants and production of apical rooted cutting for seed production for field planting are popular. The activities of diseas- es-free seed production start at the laboratory and end at the field with seed pro- duction for planting. In general, three major steps were used in seed potato multip- lication: (1) Tissue culture (to produce disease-free tissue culture plantlets); (2) Production of cuttings (involves two important stages: (i) multiplication of mother plants and (ii) production of apical rooted cutting for planting) for further multip- lication and (3) production of seeds for field planting.