Field Crop 2025, Vol.8, No.1, 32-40 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/fc 37 selected under stress environments (such as drought) (Pandey et al., 2022). Even now, we can directly manipulate genes, use CRISPR-Cas9 or RNA interference (RNAi) to precisely target and adjust key sites that control tuber yield and quality, instead of relying on "chance". 6.3 Multi-target breeding: if you want everything, you have to know how to make trade-offs However, in reality, breeding often cannot focus on just one trait. Large tubers and high yields are good things, but if the quality is not up to standard, problems will still arise in the processing stage. Therefore, the "multi-target" strategy is now advocated-while increasing yields, we must also consider tuber appearance, quality, and even adaptability to stress environments such as drought. In order to clarify the relationship between various traits, some studies have introduced path coefficient analysis to help breeders determine which traits have the greatest impact and which ones can be traded off (Shubha and Singh, 2018). In addition, there are studies that try to bring in metabolite and transcript information, instead of relying solely on traditional yield data. In drought years, it is also clearer to see who performs more stably (Haas et al., 2020). In this way, the varieties finally selected can not only produce more, grow better, and be more adaptable to climate change, and their overall performance will naturally be more competitive (Hanász et al., 2024). 7 Challenges and Solutions 7.1 The impact of genetic background complexity on yield control The yield of potato tubers is not determined by a single gene. Its genetic background is complex, and it is particularly sensitive to environmental conditions such as drought, which makes the situation even more difficult. Once drought occurs, not only the total amount of tubers decreases, but also the yield of the marketable part decreases. Studies have shown that the tuber size of plants with slower leaf maturation is more widely distributed, so that the proportion of large tubers is higher during drought, which is quite beneficial (Aliche et al., 2019). However, it is easier said than done to find the gene loci directly related to yield from these traits. Although the current genetic map has marked a lot of useful information, since most of these traits are caused by the joint action of many genes, the real difficulty is how to use this information to create drought-resistant and high-yielding varieties. This is why modern molecular technology is becoming more and more important (Naeem et al., 2021). 7.2 Balancing ecological adaptability and biodiversity conservation in breeding practices For breeders, it is not only necessary to have high yields, but also to consider environmental adaptability. In addition, do not make the varieties too simple, otherwise it will be difficult to deal with new problems in the future. Technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9 and TALEN have indeed brought a lot of convenience to breeding-now it is possible to breed new varieties with high yields and strong adaptability without relying on genetic modification (Hameed et al., 2018; Ahmad et al., 2022). But the problem is also here: once these technologies are over-reliant, the genetic base may become narrower, and it will become passive when encountering new pests or climate change in the future. Therefore, how to maintain population diversity while using these technologies is a very realistic balancing problem in current breeding. 7.3 The potential of modern biotechnology Now when it comes to increasing potato yields, it is impossible to bypass modern biotechnology. For example, epigenetics is quite interesting. Instead of changing the DNA sequence, it affects gene expression through "regulatory switches", which may improve stress resistance and yield stability (García et al., 2018). There are also multi-omics integration technologies-in fact, it is to put a lot of "omics" information together, such as genome, transcriptome, proteome and metabolome, etc. Through this integration method, researchers can have a clearer understanding of how the tuber grows and how it responds to various stresses (Pourazari et al., 2018). Although these methods sound advanced, in the final analysis, the purpose is to find out which regulatory points can be used to improve potato yield and quality. 8 Future Prospects and Suggestions 8.1 Deepen the research on the genetic basis of tuber size and yield At present, many aspects of the genetic control of potato tuber yield have not been clarified. It is not to say that there is no clue at all-for example, some genetic markers related to tuber size distribution under drought
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