Sentinel: An Early Yellow-Fleshed Potato Cultivar Suitable for Fresh Market and Chip Processing

Sentinel (FV8957-10) is a new yellow-fleshed potato cultivar that produces a high yield of attractive round to oval tubers at early harvest. Sentinel is suitable for fresh market use and chip processing. It was selected at the Lethbridge Research Centre of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, AB from a cross made at the Potato Research Centre of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, NB between breeding clones F72218 and F47024. Sentinel has erect medium-height vines and produces uniform tubers of medium-size with a light buff skin, light yellow flesh and shallow eyes. In multi-date-harvest trials, Sentinel produced similar or higher marketable yield compared to Atlantic and NorValley in southern Alberta. When harvested at 80 days after planting, Sentinel produced similar or greater yield than Superior and Conestoga at test sites across western Canada. Specific gravity of Sentinel was less than Atlantic and Conestoga but higher than NorValley and Superior, whereas chip colour was similar to Atlantic and lighter than NorValley or Superior. Sentinel showed little tendency to slough or to darken after cooking. It showed clear foliar and tuber symptoms when infected with bacterial ring rot. Sentinel is moderately susceptible to verticillium wilt, early blight, fusarium wilt and common scab and susceptible to late blight.