News on Potato Defects and Diseases

Nakuru will test and release (late blight resistant) varieties of potato seeds for small-scale farmers, Agriculture executive Dr Stanley Chepkwony has said.

Australia’s industry association of vegetable and potato growers, AUSVEG, has welcomed the announcement by the Federal Minister for Agriculture that the Federal Government will review the current process by which biosecurity threats are assessed.

The West Australian virologist Brenda Coutts has been named the 2014 AUSVEG Researcher of the Year.

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.

In this USDA research on soybean crops, researchers find a link between minimum winter temperature and pesticide use.

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).

Whether you call them glassy ends, translucent ends, dark ends, jelly ends, or something even less flattering, sugar ends are a significant issue.

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.

Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) has issued a temporary import ban on potatoes from neighboring Ukraine.

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.

Mexican authorities have closed the country’s borders to U.S. potato imports citing phytosanitary issues as the reason for the ban, reports freshfruitportal.com.

Se trata de una innovación que desarrollará un equipo de trabajo liderado por la Prof. Laura Böhm del Instituto de Producción y Sanidad Vegetal del UACh.

Hairy nightshade and potato tuberworm (or potato tuber moth) are two economically important inhibitors to potato production. Two of the latest ‘Focus on Potato’ webcasts focus on these economically important potato pests.

Potato growers attending today’s potato research and development (R&D) workshop in the Lockyer Valley in south east Queensland will hear about exotic and endemic biosecurity risks facing their businesses, and the practical steps they can take to protect themselves.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have adopted revised guidelines to manage potato cyst nematode (PCN) that will support potato growers, help facilitate international trade, and maintain protection against the pest.

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