News on Potato Varieties and Seed from United Kingdom

Scientists have identified a version of a single gene involved in the heat stress response that is more active in potato types that can tolerate high temperature, potentially providing potato breeders a tool to make potato varieties less vulnerable to increased temperature.

DEFRA ha aprobado la solicitud del Laboratorio Sainsbury, Norwich, para llevar a cabo ensayos de campo con cultivo de papa genéticamente modificada (GM) en un sitio de ensayo designado en el Norwich Research Park entre 2017 y 2021.

In the United Kingdom, farming minster George Eustice (DEFRA) has approved a four-year trial of genetically modified (GM) potatoes at The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich.

AHDB Potatoes has pledged to work closely with the seed potato sector and Scottish Government to ensure that the industry maintains a low level of the bacterial disease blackleg.

Jim Cruickshank OBE, one of the most well respected seed producers in the UK, is this year’s winner of the British Potato Industry Award, organised by AHDB Potatoes.

AHDB Potatoes has produced provisional estimates of planted areas by variety for Great Britain for 2016.

Purple Magic, a Northern Ireland potato with high anthocyanin content, was bred by Paul Watts at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute and just reached the finals of INVENT 2016, a Northern Ireland innovation competition.

El AFBI (Instituto de Agroalimentación y Biociencias) de Irlanda de Norte ha desarrollado una papa morada, conocida como Purple Magic. Los investigadores la desarrollaron con la esperanza de que tenga propiedades anticancerígenas debido a los efectos beneficiosos de las antocianinas (los pigmentos), que son un tipo de compuestos antioxidantes.

A team of scientists from The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) and The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) have developed a new method to accelerate isolation of plant disease resistance genes and - using their new method - a brand new source of blight resistance genes in Solanum americanum, a wild relative of the potato.

UK Seed potato exports are booming with big strides being made to open even more new markets.

Researchers in the United Kingdom aim for a new commercial potato that resists many of the worst vulnerabilities of potato crops around the world.

Building on the growing success of its collaboration over the past two years, Potato Council and Horticultural Development Company (HDC) brought the largest collaborative UK stand yet to this year’s Fruit Logistica event in Berlin.

Cuban visitors were given a focused tour encompassing Scottish Government’s SASA’s plant health facilities, a seed potato micro-propagation facility, and visited a leading Scottish seed grower and exporter.

As Potato Council and the GB seed potato sector prepare for next months’ Potato Europe event in Germany, recent export statistics confirm that GB seed potatoes continue to be in demand around the world, with the 2013/14 figures revealing a new seed exports record from Britain.

Potato Council, Horticultural Development Company (HDC) and the Commercial Horticultural Association (CHA) returned in force to the Fruit Logistica to build their promotion of seed potatoes from Britain and raise the profile of the diversity and quality of UK horticultural crops.

Following the successful first-time collaboration by the British potato and horticulture sector at Fruit Logistica 2013, Potato Council, Horticultural Development Company (HDC) and the Commercial Horticultural Association (CHA) return with their industries to this massive event in February 2014.

The Irish Lumper potato has been cultivated once more by County Antrim farmer Michael McKillop who has a keen interest in history.

The days of a few big varieties dominating the potato market are over, with breeding programmes becoming more focused on delivering sustainable varieties for specific markets.