News on Phytophthora

Plans by Kenya to import Irish potatoes from the Netherlands have got agricultural experts worried, with some warning that it could bring a more virulent form of late blight to the region.

El 28 de mayo se realizó un taller para discutir y definir estrategias de manejo del tizón tardío de la papa. Asistieron 38 técnicos del Instituto Nacional Autónomo de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIAP), la Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo (ESPOCH) y la Universidad Central del Ecuador (UC).

Researchers at the Universities of Dundee and Aberdeen have made a breakthrough in understanding how the microbial spores which cause potato blight are so effective at infecting plants.

In Northern Ireland, the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute and CAFRE, Greenmount Campus has issued the first potato blight warning for 2014.

A University of Florida scientist has pinpointed Mexico as the origin of the pathogen that caused the 1840s Irish Potato Famine, a finding that may help researchers solve the $6 billion-a-year disease that continues to evolve and torment potato and tomato growers around the world.

In the United Kingdom, many potato crops are now emerging well - straight into conditions that pose a high risk of blight.

The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (Bari) and Peru-based International Potato Centre (CIP) will introduce a late blight resistant potato for use in next season: Bari Potato - 46

Según una reciente investigación de las Universidades de Kansas y California-Davis, el Centro Internacional de la Papa y el Instituto Internacional de Investigación del Arroz.

Scientists at the Basque agricultural research Institute Neiker-Tecnalia have for the first time identified the existence in Álava-Araba of the two sexual types A1 and A2 of the fungus Phytophthora infestans and warn the crossing between both types could lead to the appearance of new, more aggressive strains resistant to routine phytosanitary teatments

Times have changed for Alberta potato growers. Up until four years ago, the province was virtually late blight-free. Lately, wet springs and high humidity — uncharacteristic for this region — have nurtured the growth and spread of the disease.

El cruzamiento entre ambos tipos producen variantes más resistentes a fungicidas convencionales y puede sobrevivir en condiciones adversas.

In België is op een afvalhoop met aardappelen phytophthora geconstateerd.

Fitopatólogos de la universidad holandesa de Wageningen han descubierto un mecanismo que aumenta la resistencia a Phytophthora infestans, patógeno causante de una de las enfermedades más devastadoras de la papa, el tizón tardío.

Potato production in West Bengal is likely to be lower by 10-15 per cent on ‘late blight’ in a quarter of the growing districts.

Shankar Kaji Shakya, a graduate student and research fellow from the University of Florida (UF), recently visited the office of the International Potato Center (CIP) in Quito, Ecuador to discuss the characteristics of late blight in the Andes with CIP scientists.

A concerted effort has begun in Alberta Canada to raise awareness about the nastiness of late blight in tomatoes and potatoes.

Although late blight has been confirmed in 12% of Wisconsin’s counties, growers took aggressive action to control the disease and are predicting full yields and high quality potatoes of all varieties this season.

Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development warns Alberta growers and gardeners for the risk of late blight.