The breeding program at the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) in
South Africa made use of conventional breeding methods, avoiding the
complications of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). A diseasetested
collection of 100 exotic and 450 local sweet potato accessions,
maintained in glasshouses and on tissue culture are available to the
breeding program. Of these about 250 are orange-fleshed accessions.
Knowledge of genetic variability of a collection is important for efficient
utilization of the germplasmin breeding. High levels of genetic diversity
were reported among ARC accessions (Laurie, Calitz, Adebola, & Lezar,
2013; Naidoo, 2014), also for β-carotene content. The latter is considered
as an important prerequisite for biofortification (Pfeiffer &
McClafferty, 2007).