define TPS(True Potato Seed) technology in detail.
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Answer:
Potatoes can be grown from true potato seeds (TPS) which are collected from the berries of the potato plant.
Growing potatoes from true potato seeds is fun and you can discover some very good new varieties, but it is not as reliable as growing potatoes from tubers.
Growing potatoes from TPS is much like growing tomatoes from seed. The plants are started indoors and then transplanted to their permanent growing location.
Most modern potato varieties are either partly sterile, poor at forming seeds, or both. If you want to save your own TPS, you will need to start with fertile varieties or with purchased TPS, which will usually produce much more fertile varieties.
Potato is a genetically diverse crop and the seedlings do not grow true. That means that every seedling grown from TPS is genetically unique and will produce tubers with different characteristics. Every potato plant grown from seed is a new variety.
There are thousands of potato varieties with different colors and forms found in the Andes, but these types are a challenge to grow in North America because they do not form tubers until very late in the growing season. Andean potatoes are more readily available as TPS than as tubers.
Some potatoes grown from true potato seeds will have higher than normal levels of glycoalkaloids, which make the potatoes bitter. You should discard any bitter varieties.
Although true potato seeds carry much less disease than tubers, some diseases do infect seeds. For this reason, you should not import TPS from other countries.