News on Phytophthora from Europe

The breeders of Solynta have succeeded in making potato plants insusceptible to the dreaded potato disease Phytophthora infestans, using their revolutionary hybrid breeding technique.

The Dutch company Solynta has developed a potato variety that is resistant to late blight (Phytophthora Infestans). As a result, it could greatly reduce the use of pesticides in agriculture.

Potato industry representatives, growers and influencers from all over the UK and beyond are expected to descend on Dundee to take part in Potatoes in Practice 2017, a technical potato field event featuring a high-standard mix of science, technology and practical advice and the largest of its type in the UK.

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.

Potato breeder Solynta started a potato revolution nearly ten years ago: to develop and apply new breeding technologies to convert potatoes into a hybrid crop. A 'large' trial of the first experimental hybrids took place last season.

Profesionales del área de transferencia tecnológica de INIA La Platina desarrollaron una plataforma web de asesoría experta que ofrece al asesor técnico un apoyo en la identificación y posterior control de enfermedades y plagas.

El Reglamento de la UE sobre la agricultura orgánica no permite el uso de organismos genéticamente modificados (OGM).Pero..... puede distinguirse un cultivo de papa cisgenico de un cultivo de papa que es el resultado de la producción convencional?

Every once in a while the potato disease Phytophthora crops up in the Netherlands, and this year is no exception. Especially potato farmers in the South of the Netherlands are worried.

Potato blight changed Europe and America, and led to widespread deaths and mass emigration. And we’re not rid of it yet. But where did it come from?

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.

Research to develop potatoes with sustainable resistance against phytophthora via genetic modification with genes from wild potatoes and good resistance management ended with the publication of the scientific results. The approach resulted in potato plants which require 80% less chemical control.

Research shows that crops with stacks of two or more resistance genes from closely related species, introduced into the crop via for instance genetic engineering, combined with the simultaneous introduction of resistance management, can ensure the long-term resistance of these plants to economically significant and aggressive diseases.

Scientific results of the potato field trials in Flanders and the Netherlands demonstrate that gene stacking is necessary for a strong and lasting resistance to late blight (Phytophthora infestans).

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

El evento se realizó en Brazov, Rumania, entre el 10 y 13 de mayo.

A team of researchers tracking the 2014 population of the potato late blight pathogen have added to the 2013 data to extend the spatial diversity plots and combine this with novel genetic analysis tools that visualise the distribution and diversity of dominant clones and reveals novel genetically diverse isolates in some regions.

Potato growers and agronomists in he United Kingdom will be better prepared to cope with more aggressive blight strains this season, with a new BlightCast warning tailored to focus on infections now typically occurring earlier in the season at cooler temperatures.

Científicos encontraron un gen para ayudar a proteger las papas de una plaga que desató una devastadora hambruna en Irlanda en el siglo XIX.