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 | January 2012 | | | |  Researcher says zebra chip not likely to spread through seed
A potato disease that arrived late this summer in the Pacific Northwest called zebra chip likely can't be spread by planting infected seed, new research suggests. Joseph Munyaneza, a research entomologist with USDA ARS Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory in Wapato, Wash., said countries including New Zealand and Mexico have voiced concerns that the disease could be spread through seed. Zebra chip is named for the dark stripes that show up during frying of infected tubers. Symptoms, including curled, pinkish leaves, surface three weeks after infection. It effectively stops tuber development and makes potatoes unmarketable.
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| | | | US researchers probe glyphosate drift in potatoes
Symptoms of glyphosate contamination in seed potatoes vary by variety, and tubers sustain severe damage without exhibiting foliar symptoms when exposure occurs after bulking starts, new research suggests. Weed scientist Pamela Hutchinson, with the University of Idaho Aberdeen Research and Extension Center, believes growers face greater challenges than they previously realized in identifying when seed has been marred by glyphosate drift or residue in spray tanks.
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| | | | Potato scientists tackle Zebra chip disease threat
In October, the University of Idaho College of Agricultural and Life Sciences confirmed that Idaho’s potato growers faced a new challenge to the state’s most famous crop with the arrival of Zebra chip. The potato disease, named for the dark bands it produces in fried potato products, was initially found last summer in research plots and fields in Jerome and Twin Falls counties. In mid-January, Phil Nolte, University of Idaho Extension seed potato specialist at Idaho Falls, told growers that it’s too soon to know whether Zebra chip’s appearance in Idaho last year was a curiosity or the first sign of a coming scourge.
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| | | | Research into use of bioinsecticides for control of potato tuber moth in Costa Rica
Yannery Gómez Bonilla, a graduate in Biology from the University of Costa Rica, has done research for her PhD into the application of granulovirus against two species of potato tuber moth, the cause of numerous plagues both in the crop fields and during storage. In both environments the efficacy of bioinsecticides using the various formulas employed was shown. Ms Yannery Gómez explained that, in the quest for alternatives to the chemical insecticides employed against the past species Phthorimaea operculella and Tecia solanirova, “outstanding is a granulovirus with promising properties as a control agent”.
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| | | | Researchers come to terms with late blight disease disease effectors
Phytophthora infestans, the causal agent of late blight, has evolved to overcome fungicides and major resistance genes that have been bred into commercial potato cultivars. In order to dampen the immune response of its host, P. infestans secretes molecules called disease effectors at the site of infection. Now, a research team from Japan and the UK has determined the molecular structure of the disease effector called avirulence protein 3a (AVR3a), which is known to inhibit disease resistance in potato plants. Understanding the molecular structure and function of AVR3a will help plant biologists to elucidate how P. infestans causes infection so that they can develop better control measures.
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