Potato Review

10 POTATO REVIEW SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 NEW VARIETY Jacky: A new market leader? New salad variety shows unprecedented tuber numbers in East of England. In a discovery trial by Greenvale, the variety has proven easy to grow, with all the characteristics consumers’ demand of a salad potato according to seed supplier Agrico, which developed the variety. Executive Director Archie Gibson said: “Jacky is a high-yielding second early. Bred to consistently produce round tubers below 45mm with pale yellow esh, it scores eight for black dot, nine for foliar and tuber blight. It’s a highly versatile potato with great avour.” As part of its new variety programme, Greenvale has grown one hectare of Jacky, in three rows within 76 inch beds, on light, sandy loam in Su olk. Greenvale’s Growing Manager for the East of England, Stuart Liddle, said: “Samples taken mid-July indicate tuber numbers at two million per hectare. We’ve not had a variety that can produce that before. It was a nice, clean sample too.” Greenvale has been working with Crop4Sight, a tool designed to maximise saleable potato crop yields. Based on over 30 years of trials data, together with AHDB-funded seed rate trials, the software provides accurate, actionable insight and foresight for decision-making. Paul Coleman of Crop4Sight rst saw the variety a couple of years ago as a seedling. Seeing its potential, he was keen to help “Jacky’s naturally round shape made it easier to achieve even spacing at drilling but the biggest benefit has been its high blight resistance.” Stuart Liddle “Jacky has the potential to be a game-changer in the baby potato sector.” Paul Coleman Greenvale with the crop parameter work required to grow the variety on a larger scale. “Jacky has the potential to be a game-changer in the baby potato sector,” Paul said. Stuart added: “It’s very straightforward to grow. It’s tted in nicely with the standard regime. In fact, in some respects, it has been easier. In comparison with Charlotte, Jacky’s naturally round shape made it easier to achieve even spacing at drilling but the biggest A NEW salad potato variety called Jacky is on target to produce 2 million tubers per hectare with 65% sized 25-35mm yielding 50tonne/hectare overall.