Dataset for: Standard Evaluation Trial for micronutrient content

Iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and vitamins A and C are among the most widespread nutrient deficiencies in developing countries. Potato genotypes display from moderate to large ranges of mineral content. A survey of advanced breeding clones and cultivars showed broad range of iron contents extending from 18 to 65 μg/g DW, while less overall variation of Zinc contents was true, ranging from 12.5 to 20 μg/g DW. Some evidence of consistency of genotype effects across environments suggest that significant gains for iron and zinc can be expected through breeding, particularly for iron if coupled with a high content of vitamin C considering the close association between iron availability and vitamin C. Concentration of vitamin C in potatoes is moderate to low compared with fruits and other vegetables, yet as a staple food, potatoes may be one of the highest contributors of vitamin C in the diets of people in many places around the world. Inheritance study using low and high concentration parents suggested that vitamin C concentration in tubers is highly heritable and hence increased levels could rapidly be achieved through selection of high concentration parents Standard evaluation trials assessed iron, zinc and vitamin C contents in tuber samples from advanced breeding clones to document their nutritional values. Healthy and representative tubers with regard to tuber size of each clone are picked up from plots of two replications of 10 hill plots from trials conducted in pathogen and pest protected fields and grown following local procedures. Iron and Zinc content are determined by inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrophotometry (ICP) and concentrations expressed in mg/kg, dry weight (DW), while vitamin C is quantified by the spectrophotometric method and expressed in mg/100 g, fresh weight (FW).