Potato J.

34 (3 - 4): 153-158, 2007

KUFRI HIMALINI: A HIGH YIELDING, LATE

BLIGHT RESISTANT POTATO VARIETY SUITABLE
FOR CULTIVATION IN INDIAN HILLS
T.A. Joseph1, B.P. Singh2, S.K. Kaushik3, Vinay Bhardwaj, S.K. Pandey3, S.V. Singh2,
J. Gopal, P.H. Singh3 and V.K. Gupta4
ABSTRACT : Kufri Himalini is a medium maturing potato variety suitable for cultivation in Indian hills. This variety can also
be grown in north-central plains. It has a high level of resistance to late blight in foliage and moderate resistance in the tubers.
It has medium sized, oval-oblong, white tubers with pale yellow flesh and excellent cooking quality. It yields higher than
varieties Kufri Jyoti, Kufri Giriraj and Kufri Shailja, and also has better keeping quality. The cultivation of this variety may
provide stability to potato cultivation in the hills where late blight disease is a recurring feature.

INTRODUCTION
Although area under potato in the hills is
less than 10% of the total area under potato in
the country, yet it is an important part of
potato supply chain providing fresh potatoes
at a time when they are not available in the
plains. Amongst all the biotic and abiotic
factors that limit potato production in the
hills, late blight disease caused by Phytophthora
infestans is the most important limiting factor
restricting potato productivity to below
national average (6).
The late blight resistance breeding
programme in India has led to the
development and release of several resistant
varieties during 1963-1971 (2, 7). These varieties
including popular cv. Kufri Jyoti, possessing
major R-genes derived from S. demissum,
became susceptible to late blight in due course
of time owing to the development of matching
virulences in the pathogen. Thus varieties
namely, Kufri Giriraj (2) and Kufri Shailja (5)
with horizontal resistance derived from S.
andigena were developed and released for
1

Central
Central
3
Central
4
Central
2

Potato
Potato
Potato
Potato

Research
Research
Research
Research

cultivation in the hills in 1998 and 2005,

respectively.
The continued efforts to develop late blight
resistant varieties led to selection of clone
SM/91-1515 that was released for
commercial cultivation under the name Kufri
Himalini in 2005. This paper describes the
salient features of this variety.

PEDIGREE
Kufri Himalini (SM/91-1515) is a selection
(Fig. 1) from progeny of the cross I-1062 (CP
2000) x bulk pollen (CP 2132, CP 2183, CP
2175 and Kufri Pukhraj). The female parent I1062 received from Mexico has white, oblong
tubers with shallow eyes and medium
maturity. It also possesses late blight resistance
both in foliage as well as in the tubers,
immunity to wart and moderate resistance to
PLRV (3). Although bulk pollen was used for
attempting this cross but the clone SM/911515 could have originated from fertilization
with one male parent only. Microsatellite
analysis with multicopy markers namely,
STIIKA, STINHW1, STU6SNRN and STM007

Station, Muthorai-643 003, Tamil Nadu, India.

Institute Campus, Modipuram-250 110, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Institute, Shimla-171 001, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Station, Shillong-793 009, Meghalaya, India.

T.A. Joseph et al.

CP 2000 (I-1062)
x
Bulk Pollen
CP 2132 (Tollocan)
CP 2175 (LT-5)
CP 2183 (I-1039)
Kufri Pukhraj

adaptability under short days of autumn crop

and irrigated conditions.
SM/91-1515
(Kufri Himalini)

The hybrid was recommended for release

in the 25th group meeting of potato workers of
AICRP (Potato) held at the Maharana Partap
University of Agriculture and Technology,
Udaipur (Rajasthan) during 8-10 September
2005 for cultivation in north-western and
north-eastern hills of the country. It was finally
released and notified as variety Kufri
Himalini in 2006 by the Central SubCommittee on Crop Standards, Notification
and Release of Varieties of Horticultural Crops,
Department of Agriculture and Co-operation,
Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India,
New Delhi.

Fig. 1. Pedigree of Kufri Himalini

showed that CP 2132 (Tollocan) was the most

likely paternal parent of this hybrid
(unpublished). Tollocan was received from
Peru and possesses white, oblong tubers with
medium deep eyes and creamy flesh. It is an
early maturing genotype having moderate
resistance to late blight. This genotype is also
one of the parents of variety Jacqueline Lee
known to have strong foliar resistance to the
US-8 genotype of P. infestans which is highly
pathogenic and its isolates are reported to
overcome all known R-genes resistance (1).

VARIETAL DESCRIPTION (Fig. 2)

Morphology
Habit

Medium-tall, semi-erect, semicompact, vigorous.

Stem

Many, green with purple colour at

base, wings feebly developed.

Leaf

Intermediate, dark green, leaflet

width medium, coalescence absent,
glossy, folioles many, rachis green.

Flower

Flowering profuse, floral stalk

green,
floral
stalk-pedicel
articulation clearly visible and
located above the middle, calyx
green, corolla light purple and
semi-stellate, anthers yellow and
normally developed, pollen fertility
high, style longer than stamen and
stigma round.

Tuber

Size medium, oval-oblong, white,

smooth, eyes shallow, normal
eyebrows, flesh pale yellow.

Sprout

Predominantly purple, white-green

at apex, shape conical, pubescence
of base high and tip closed.

SELECTION PROCEDURE
The cross was made in 1991 at the Central
Potato Research Station, Kufri (32N 77E,
2501 m amsl). The seedling generation was
grown in 1992 and screened under controlled
environment at Shimla against the complex
races of P. infestans as per standard procedure
(8). The selected clones were subjected to early
generation selections (F1C1-F1C4) and seed
multiplication at CPRS, Kufri. In the following
years, SM/91-1515 was tested in replicated
yield trials (F1C5-F1C7) and under natural late
blight epiphytotic conditions at Kufri using
Kufri Jyoti and Kufri Giriraj as controls. In
2000, the hybrid was introduced in All India
Coordinated Research Project (Potato) for
multilocation trials at hill centres. The hybrid
was also evaluated in the north-western plains
at the Central Potato Research Institute
Campus, Modipuram (29N, 76E, 222 m amsl)
during 2003 and 2004 for testing its
154

Kufri Himalini

Other attributes

YIELD PERFORMANCE

Maturity

In the field trials conducted at Kufri during

1997-1999 (Table 1), Kufri Himalini yielded
on an average 395 q/ha compared to 267 and
319 q/ha by the control varieties Kufri Jyoti
and Kufri Giriraj, respectively. Its yield was
higher than that of Kufri Jyoti by nearly 48%.

Specific
gravity

Medium (110-120 days)

1.066

Tuber dry 18.5 percent.

matter
Keeping
quality

Good, better than Kufri Giriraj.

Dormancy medium 10-11 weeks.

Cooking
quality

Good, like Kufri Jyoti, cooks well

in 30 min, floury texture, mild
flavour, free from after-cooking
discolouration.

Flower

The yield performance of Kufri Himalini

at different locations in the AICRP (Potato)
hill centres (120 days crop duration, rainfed
crop) is presented in Tables 2 and 3. Kufri
Himalini yielded significantly higher than the
respective best controls (Table 2) at different

Leaf

Crop

Sprout

Tubers

Fig. 2. Morphological features of Kufri Himalini

155

T.A. Joseph et al.

Table 1. Performance of Kufri Himalini at Kufri before
introduction into AICRP (P)
Hybrid/
Control

Kufri Himalini
Kufri Jyoti
Kufri Giriraj
CD (P 0.05)

Yield (q/ha)
1997

1998

1999

Average

537
368
37

269
177
288
48

379
257
351
38

395
267
319

locations over the years. However, percent

increase over the controls varied from location
to location. The average of four years showed
that Kufri Himalini yielded about 56% higher
than Kufri Jyoti, about 15% higher than Kufri
Giriraj and about 16% higher than Kufri Shailja
at various locations (Table 3). On an average,
Kufri Himalini could yield 270-290 q/ha under
normal conditions of crop growth in the hills.
In sub-tropical plains at Modipuram, Kufri
Himalini produced about 10% higher yield

Late blight
score*
(mean
over
years)
6.3
1.7
6.0

*Late blight score on 1-9 scale, 1 = susceptible, 9 = highly

resistant.

Table 2. Year-wise yield performance of Kufri Himalini in AICRP (P) trials in hills
Year

Hybrid/best control

2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

Yield (q/ha)

Kufri Himalini
Best Control*
CD (P 0.05)
Kufri Himalini
Best Control
CD (P 0.05)
Kufri Himalini
Best Control
CD (P 0.05)
Kufri Himalini
Best Control
CD (P 0.05)

Kufri

Ooty

334
221
61
270
279
35
401
349
50
143
103
26

394
546
31
430
436
18
168
123
17
313
244
16

(S)

(S)

(G)

(J)

Ranichauri

Shillong

177
202 (S)
16
203
196 (S)
29
240
183 (S)
25
-

(G)

(S)

(G)

(G)

107
140 (G)
27
286
242 (J)
59
337
260 (J)
33

*Best Control, J = Kufri Jyoti, G = Kufri Giriraj and S = Kufri Shailja.

Table 3. Mean performance of Kufri Himalini for yield and late blight score over years (2002-03 to 2005-06) in AICRP (P) trials
in hills
Hybrid/ Control

Kufri
Kufri
Kufri
Kufri

Himalini
Jyoti
Giriraj
Shailja

Kufri

Ooty

287
202
211
231

326
106
331
325

Yield (q/ha)
Ranichauri Shillong
206
170
177
194

243
201
200
166

Mean

Kufri

266
170
230
229

6.3
1.0
5.2
5.2

Late blight score*

Ooty Ranichauri Shillong
5.5
1.5
5.5
5.2

4.7
4.7
5.0
4.3

4.3
1.0
1.7
1.7

Mean
5.2
2.0
4.3
4.1

*Late blight score on 1-9 scale, 1 = susceptible, 9 = highly resistant.

Table 4. Yield performance (q/ha) of Kufri Himalini in plains
at Modipuram
Hybrid/Control

Kufri Himalini
Kufri Jyoti
Kufri Giriraj
Kufri Bahar
CD (P 0.05)

than the controls Kufri Jyoti and Kufri Giriraj

(Table 4) and about 28% higher yield than the
late blight susceptible variety Kufri Bahar
during 2004-05.

Yield (q/ha)
2003-04

2004-05

Mean

398
373
365
42

398
349
361
309
46

398
361
363
309

DRY MATTER PRODUCTION

Kufri Himalini produced higher dry matter
(18.5%) than the control Kufri Jyoti (17.0%)
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Kufri Himalini

It is evident from these results that Kufri

Himalini is a high yielding, late blight resistant
variety having acceptable tuber characters with
good tuber dry matter and better keeping
quality than cultivars Kufri Jyoti, Kufri Giriraj
and Kufri Shailja. It can be grown both in the
hills and plains. The cultivation of this variety
will supplement the other varieties in
combating late blight disease more effectively
as these carry resistance genes from different
sources thereby limiting single or few races to
attack the crop in one season.

and was at par with Kufri Giriraj (18.4%). The

recently released cultivar Kufri Shailja
produced the highest dry matter (19.1%) in
these multi-location trials.

LATE BLIGHT RESISTANCE

Kufri Himalini showed higher level of
resistance to late blight compared to Kufri
Jyoti, Kufri Giriraj and Kufri Shailja (Table 3).
The latter varieties had derived resistance from
S. andigena. In Kufri Himalini, cv. Tollocan
was used as one of the male parents of bulked
pollen. Tollocan was found to have durable
resistance to late blight between 1960 and
1999 (4). The authors also reported that the
field resistance in this cultivar is possibly
introgressed from Mexican varieties, such as
Amarilla de Puebla and Leona in addition
to S. demissum. In the laboratory, Kufri
Himalini was found to have significantly high
resistance to late blight (lesion area 1.27 cm2)
than Kufri Jyoti (lesion area 5.85 cm2) by
detached leaf method.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Our sincere thanks are due to the Director,
Project Coordinator, AICRP (P), and Head,
Central Potato Research Station, Kufri for
providing facilities and encouragement during
the course of development of this variety.
Thanks are also due to the scientists of
coordinated centres for facilities and help in
evaluation.

LITERATURE CITED

The results of whole tuber method revealed

that the fungus was not able to penetrate and
cause infection in tubers of Kufri Himalini,
whereas tubers of Kufri Jyoti showed
susceptible reaction (lesion area 6.15 cm2).
However, in tuber slice method, Kufri Himalini
showed moderate resistance (lesion area 5.33
cm2 compared to 9.50 cm2 in Kufri Jyoti).

KEEPING QUALITY
The storage behaviour of Kufri Himalini
was studied at room temperature immediately
after harvest upto 120 days duration at
Modipuram. Kufri Himalini had dormancy
duration equal to that of Kufri Jyoti (83 days)
but longer than those of Kufri Giriraj (68
days) and Kufri Shailja (75 days). The total
weight loss in Kufri Himalini after 120 days of
storage was lower (15.17%) than all the three
controls, Kufri Jyoti (16.68%), Kufri Giriraj
(24.01%) and Kufri Shailja (19.50%).
157

1.

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variety. Amer. J. Potato Res. 78: 413-19.

2.

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Breeding for disease resistance. In: Potato Late Blight
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MS Received: 11-07-2006

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