| For 2020 and newer grants, please go to https://grants.ipmcenters.org/ |
|---|
|
|
| Home Current RFAs PD User Guide Projects Login |
|
Funded Project |
|
Funding Program:
IPM Partnership Grants |
|
Project Title:
Evaluation of Specialty Potato Varieties for Late Blight Resistance and Adaptation to Rhode Island |
Project Director (PD):
|
|
Lead State: RI Lead Organization: University of Rhode Island |
| Undesignated Funding: $3,458 |
|
Start Date: May-01-2010 End Date: Jan-31-2011 |
|
No-Cost Extension Date: Nov-30-2011 |
|
Pests Involved: late blight, fungus, fungi |
|
Site/Commodity: potatoes, vegetables |
|
Area of Emphasis: resistance |
|
Summary:
In 2009 late blight caused substantial crop losses for farmers growing potatoes in Rhode Island and throughout the Northeast. Most potatoes grown in Rhode Island are harvested for fresh market. Traditional eastern white potato varieties are being replaced with specialty potatoes which are popular with chefs, farmers' market customers, and CSA members. Growers serving these direct retail markets are more likely than wholesale growers to be certified organic or pesticide-free, making disease resistance a major component of their IPM strategy. There is little information available on the susceptibility of specialty potato varieties to the current populations of late blight. In addition, many of the newer late blight resistant varieties have not been tested for adaptation to the coastal climate of southern New England, and growers are not familiar with them. The objective of this project is to conduct a variety trial of specialty potatoes and late blight resistant varieties to determine their suitability for fresh market production in Rhode Island. Potatoes will be grown in replicated small plots and evaluated for disease and insect problems, yield, tuber quality and eating quality. The trial will be managed to encourage late blight; if natural infection is insufficient varieties will be tested in the lab using the detached leaf
method. Trial results will be communicated to growers through the August twilight meeting, a trial report, and recommendations in the 2012 New England Vegetable Management Guide. Trial results will benefit growers by permitting them to select less-susceptible varieties for planting, and adjust their use of preventative fungicides accordingly. Objectives: 1. Evaluate heirloom and novelty varieties, new late blight tolerant releases and experimental lines from NE1014 breeding programs, and selected PI accessions for adaptation to Rhode Island growing conditions and potential attractiveness to purchasers of locally grown produce. 2. Screen heirloom and novelty varieties for late blight tolerance. Anticipated impacts of this project are as follows: 1. Potato producers in Rhode Island and southern New England will adopt late blight resistant or tolerant varieties which are not currently grown in the region. 2. Information will become available on the relative late blight susceptibility of heirloom and novelty varieties popular for direct retail so growers can select varieties suited to their late blight risk and willingness to use fungicides. Proposal |
|
Final Report: |
|
Outcomes The field trial was very successful, despite the absence of late blight. New York 150 had the best stand establishment, scoring a perfect 10. Rose Finn Apple, La Ratte, G4-2, Banana, and French had similarly strong establishment. Island Sunshine had very poor establishment; Red Maria, Purple Pelisse, King Harry, Elba, and Chieftan were better, but not significantly so. The Colorado potato beetles seemed to seek out Ozzette and Rose Finn Apple. They were also fond of Romanze, Purple Peruvian, and Purple Pelisse. Elba, Terra Rosa, and Blossom showed the best resistance to early blight on both dates, and the vines were still green when the trial was mowed down on August 20. Rose Finn Apple and Red Thumb were the most susceptible varieties. Terra Rosa and Blossom had the least early blight of the red-fleshed varieties. Elba was the best of the white-fleshed varieties. La Ratte and Nicola were the best of the yellow-fleshed varieties. Neither of the two purple-fleshed varieties had any early blight resistance. Tuber size was determined by taking the weight of 10 randomly selected tubers from each plot after harvest. Red Maria and Elba had the largest tubers, with weights of 1950 g and 1927 g, respectively. Ozzette had the smallest tubers, followed by Purple Pelisse and Peanut. Chieftan was the highest yielding variety, closely followed by Purple Viking, Red Maria, and New York 140. All four varieties exceeded 15 kg of marketable tubers from 10 feet of row. The lowest yielding variety was Purple Peruvian, which grew beautiful tops but averaged only 2.1 Kg of potatoes per plot, all of them quite small. Ozzette and King Harry also had low yields. French and Peanut had the highest yields of any of the fingerling varieties. La Ratte yielded slightly less than Peanut but had larger tubers, better establishment, and better resistance to early blight. Nicola was the highest yielding yellow-flesh potato with 14.1 kg per plot. We were not successful in our goal of evaluating the potato varieties for response to late blight, as we were unable to cause disease in either the field or the greenhouse. Varieties which showed good yield and quality, and tolerance or resistance to early blight were French, La Ratte, Terra Rosa, New York 140, Elba, Kennebec, Red Maria, and Nicola. These varieties should be further investigated for late blight tolerance. It is important to have tolerance to both early and late blight, as early blight occurs more frequently in southern New England. The results from this trial were published as part of the 2011 University of Rhode Island Vegetable Variety Trial Report, and are available on the URI Sustainable Agriculture website. Results were also shared with growers at the August 2011 twilight meeting. The funding from NEIPM enabled me to get a Coastal Fellowship grant from the RI Ag. Exp. Station. The project provided one undergraduate student with the opportunity to gain 6 months of research experience in the field and lab, and another student to complete a 2 month lab experience. The potatoes were planted and harvested by students in the spring and fall vegetable production classes, respectively. |
|
Impacts Safeguarding Human Health and the Environment Early blight (Alternaria) and Late blight (Phytopthora) are the two most important potato diseases in southern New England. Early blight occurs every year in Rhode Island; late blight is more episodic but is extremely damaging when it does occur. Growers begin spraying potatoes for early blight when the plants are 4-6 inches tall, and continue applying fungicides every 5-7 days until the vines are killed for harvest. Planting varieties with tolerance to early blight would enable growers to reduce fungicide applications without sacrificing yield. Economic Benefits Reducing the number of fungicide applications would save growers money. Growers who sell directly to discriminating customers such as chefs and high-end supermarkets could increase their profits by growing specialty potatoes rather than the standard varieties. For example the best-yielding fingerling varieties in our trial had yields comparable to the best of the standard varieties and fingerlings retail for $4-$5 per pound as opposed to under $1/pound for standard potatoes. Implementation of IPM The results of our trial were shared with 35 growers and Ag Service providers at our Twilight Meeting. The variety trial report has also been shared with growers via the URI Sustainable Agriculture web site. However, we had some changes of personnel in our extension program, and information on the number of growers contacted is not available. |
| Report Appendices |
| Close Window |
|
Northeastern IPM Center 340 Tower Road Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 NortheastIPM.org |
 |
Developed by the Center for IPM © Copyright CIPM 2004-2026 |
|