The potato () is the world’s fourth most important food crop after maize, rice and wheat with 382 million tonnes fresh-weight (FW) of tubers produced in 2014 from 19.1 million hectares of land, in 164 countries, giving a global average yield of 20.0 t ha-1 (http://faostat.fao.org). About 60% of production (231 million tonnes) was in Asia (187), Africa (26) and Latin America (18) as a result of steady increases in recent years, particularly in China and India. Indeed, China (96 million tonnes) is now the number one potato producer in the world and India (46) is second, with the Russian Federation (32) third, Ukraine (24) fourth and the USA (20) fifth. As a major food crop, the potato has an important role to play in the United Nations “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” which started on 1 January 2016 (http://faostat.fao.org). The agenda includes 17 goals, the second of which is to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. By 2030 the aim of the agenda is to “ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round”. By then, the world population is expected to reach 8.5 billion and continue to increase to 9.7 billion in 2050. For potatoes, the need is to increase production and improve nutritional value to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies (‘hidden hunger’) during a period of climate change. A key aspect of this endeavour will be the breeding of new cultivars for a wide range of target environments and consumers.The aim of the book is to provide more information and greater detail on the theory and practice of potato breeding than is possible in review articles and book chapters. The book updates the information provided by Bradshaw and Bonierbale (2010), incorporates the theory from Bradshaw and Mackay (1994) and from the book on plant breeding by Bradshaw (2016), and extends the theory to cover genomic selection (in diploids and tetraploids) and diploid F1 hybrid breeding weiterlesen