In modern agriculture the variety is an independent mean of increasing yield and along with the technology has a great value and sometimes decisive.

To maximize the possibilities of the variety, not to worsen the quality of products when raising yields, one must carefully choose varieties for specific soil-climatic and economic conditions.

The article presents the results of researches of early-maturing potato varieties in the conditions of the Central part of the Forest-Steppe of Ukraine. The material for the research was the elite of early potato varieties: Serpanok (st.), Povin, Tyras, Podolyanka, Glazurna.

As evidenced by the research, the onset of the sprout development stages prolonged in the variety Glazurna for 1 day, while in the standard variety Serpanok – for 2 days, compared with the varieties Povin, Tyras, Podolyanka; vegetative growth stages – in the variety Povin for 4 days, and in the variety Serpanok for 7 days. By the time of the onset of the flowering stage, the varieties did not differ from each other. The period from the sprout development to the beginning of losing leaves prolonged in the varieties Tyras and Glazurna for 2 days in comparison with the standard variety Serpanok.

It was noted, that from the studied varieties, the variety Serpanok in 2017 significantly exceeded the varieties Povin and Tyras by stalk stand density, and in 2016 – varieties Povin, Tyras and Podolyanka. The variety Podolyanka in 2016 and the variety Glazurna in 2017 and in 2016 did not significantly differ by stalk stand density compared to the Serpanok standard.

It was proved that in 2016 all studied varieties by the area of the leaf surface were significantly inferior to the standard variety Serpanok, namely the variety Povin – on 6.22 thousand m², the variety Glazurna – on 23.43 thousand m², the variety Tyras – on 25.13 thousand m² and the variety Podolyanka – on 28.38 thousand m². However, in 2017 from the studied varieties, the variety standard for this indicator significantly exceeded only the variety Podolyanka; the varieties Tyras and Glazurna formed the area of planting leaves at the same level, and the variety Povin was significantly inferior to the standard variety Serpanok.

It was established that in 2016 the variety Povin significantly exceeded the standard variety, the variety Tyras formed the yield at the same level, while the varieties Podolyanka and Glazurna significantly overwhelmed the standard variety Serpanok.

From the studied varieties, the standard variety Serpanok by the yield in 2017 significantly exceeded the varieties of Glazurna, Tyras and Podolyanka, namely on 40.61 centner/ha, 41.38 and 69.27 centner/ha, respectively. The variety Povin forms the same yield as the standard variety.

The obtained research results prove that potato productivity largely depends on the genotype of the variety and weather conditions.

Key words: potato, variety, stalk stand density, area of leaf surface, yield.