News on Phytophthora from Europe

Since the start of autumn, potato producers in the regions of Russia have been facing many challenges, new and old. In the Russian Federation, the average annual volume of potatoes used for food purposes is estimated to be at 13-14 million tons, which makes potato one of the most important crops in Russia. In this article, we present information about the potato situation in various regions of Russia.

Gowan Crop Protection Limited, an affiliate of Gowan Co. LLC., has entered into agreements with Bayer AG to acquire rights to the active ingredients fenamidone and pencycuron.

Harry van de Vijver, Germicopa, Quimper (F): 'Give us yellow-fleshed French-fry varieties with broad nematode resistance.'

Jan-Eric Geersing, Caithness Potatoes Nederland, Emmeloord: 'New French-fry varieties must excel in at least one characteristic, but in fact have two good ones.

Recent research at the James Hutton Institute suggests that limited genetic differences in potato lineages has left British and American spuds vulnerable to late blight, the disease that caused the Irish potato famine.

EuroBlight is continuously examining the ongoing evolution of the European population of the potato late blight pathogen and now reports on the 2018 results. Approximately 1000 samples were genotyped from 22 countries.

The potato breeding company Solynta in The Netherlands has successfully produced a hybrid breeding program for potatoes which will allow the rapid selection and turnover of favourable traits, traits which could help feed millions of people worldwide.

During the annual potato variety show at Agrico the topic of discussion was not limited to unique varieties on display. The impact of the excessive heat and drought this season on the seed potato market was also a hot topic.

As part of the potato variety presentations in the Netherlands later this week, Agrico highlights its late blight resistant varieties in a Ukraine themed show.

Wageningen University & Research uses computer models to develop sustainable management strategies in the control of potato late blight, caused by Phytophthora infestans.

The EuroBlight project is examining the ongoing evolution of the potato late blight pathogen (Phytophthora infestans). In 2017, almost 1500 samples from 16 countries in Europe were genotyped. The results indicate that new clones continue to spread.

Late Blight control strategies in the United Kingdom will have to change this season if potato growers are to combat the spread of a new aggressive, fungicide-insensitive/ resistant strain of the disease, leading agronomy firm Hutchinsons says.

Agrico presented its new generation potato varieties with high resistance to late blight (Phytophthora Infestans) at Fruit Logistica. On the first day of the fair, General Manager Jan van Hoogen explained the meaning of these new varieties.

Identification of the receptor for Cytolisin - the killer toxin of Phytophthora infestans - opens door to biological methods to protect potatoes and selective, biological herbicides as alternative for glyphosate

Although the full harvest is not in the stores yet, the North-Western European Potato Growers (NEPG) estimates the actual harvest at 28.9 million tons for the 5 countries. This is more than the estimate of last September.

A genetically-modified (GM) Maris Piper designed to resist the devastating plant disease late blight has worked “brilliantly” during the first year of field trials, according to scientists of The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL)

For the current European potato harvest, the North-western-European Potato Growers (NEPG) estimate the total potato production at 27.9 million tons for the five NEPG countries (Belgium, Germany, France, The Netherlands and Great Britain). This is up 13.5 percent compared to last season.

Op basis van proefrooiingen en praktijkresultaten verwacht de NEPG een totale oogst van 27,9 miljoen ton aan consumptieaardappelen in Noord-west Europa. Dat is 13,5% hoger dan vorig jaar.