b'INDUSTRYNEWSRESEARCH NEWS P.E.I. Farmers Fight Back Against Late Blight with Ag TechTo cut down on costs and make their operations more efficient, Prince Edward Island potato farmers have started using precision agriculture technology toU of S Researcher Looking into Low Environmentalprevent late blight, according to a news release from the Prince Edward IslandImpact/Cost Potato Varieties Potato Board. University of Saskatchewan (U of S) plant scientist Kate Congreves has Farmers usually use fungicides throughout the growing season to protectreceived funding from Saskatchewans Agriculture Development Fund (ADF) to from late blight which can cause millions of dollars in crop losses. Many P.E.I.identify potato varieties which reduce environmental impact and cost, a news farmers have started using precision agriculture technology, such as localizedrelease from the U of S says.weather data, monitoring for late blight spores or infection and software,She plans to test modern potato cultivars for improved nitrogen and which forecasts the risk of infection, to reduce their reliance on fungicides. phosphorus efficiency. By identifying the best potato varieties to grow in Sas-By having access to these new data sources, farmers are able to betterkatchewan, farmers will be able to boost yields, increase revenue and reduce match fungicide spray schedules to the crops needs, making their operationsfertilizer use, decreasing costs and improving soil quality, the release says.more efficient and cut down on input costs. Congreves project was one of 30 chosen at the U of S to receive a com-Over the past two years there have been no reported cases of late blight inbined total of more than $8 million for research work. The ADF is a program P.E.I. potato fields, and by using these decision support tools, several farmsjointly supported by the federal and provincial government through the Cana-have been able to reduce their number of fungicide sprays. dian Agricultural Partnership and is supplemented by industry partners.Farmers have also been able to use these precision agriculture technologies to monitor for other diseases such as early blight or brown spot, and for insect de-tection of pests such as the Colorado potato beetle and the European corn borer.Michigan State University Receives USDA Money for Potato Breeding ProgramMichigan State University (MSU) has received US$700,000 from the United New Research Highlights Drop in New Brunswick PVY Levels States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to invest in its potato breeding and Potato Virus Y (PVY) levels in the New Brunswick potato industry have droppedgenetics program, a release from the university says.dramatically in the last decade following the launch of strict regulatory limitsThe project will focus on identifying new varieties with superior agronomics on PVY in seed lots and through careful in-field management by growers ofand end-use quality, screening elite germplasm for resistance to key pests, this aphid-spread disease new research shows, Potatoes New Brunswick saysdeveloping and leverage genomic tools to enhance breeding efficiency, and in a news release. transferring new varieties from the breeding programs to the commercial Average PVY level in all tested potato seed lots harvested in 2009 was 11.8sector.per centa decade later it had dropped to 0.63 per cent. This is close to theDave Douches, a professor in the MSU Department of Plant, Soil and lowest level ever measured in the N.B. potato industry, which was 0.43 perMicrobial Sciences, will lead the project. Douches has been in charge of the cent in 2016. potato breeding and genetics program for nearly 30 years. Since the programs While the PVY level in seed lots has dropped dramatically, so too hasinception, it has produced nearly 30 new potato varieties.the number of seed lots rejected due to PVY level exceeding the provinciallyIn the release, Douches says geneticists are looking not only to improve mandated virus cap. Currently, the cap is four per cent, harvested lots testingvarieties for growers by focusing on disease and pest resistance, but also to higher than this cannot be sold as potato seed in N.B. As of last year, 98.1 permeet consumer demand. Enhanced nutritional profiles for food products are a cent of seed lots were below this threshold for rejection, just below the recordcrucial aspect of the research.performance of the 2016 crop at 98.4 per cent. "The companies were working with want to explore how we can improve A limited resurgence of PVY was found in seed potato lots in 2017-18.the nutritional properties of our varieties. This can help us make snacking However, this may have been tied to a rise in the aphid populations. Duringhealthier, and all of our partnersfrom growers to companieshave those years, average PVY in all tested lots briefly rose above one per cent,shown interest in that," he says in the release.before dropping again in 2019. This small resurgence caused an increasedThe money is part of a US$2.25 million four-part grant to support potato rejection of N.B. seed lots for those years, resulting in an estimated loss of $2breeding in strategic areas across the country, which includes partnering million in seed sales. institutions University of Minnesota, North Dakota State University and the The research findings on the drop was led by Mathuresh Singh and TylerUniversity of Wisconsin.MacKenzie of Potatoes New Brunswicks Agricultural Certification Services lab in Fredericton N.B. MacKenzie presented the findings at the N.B. Potato Conference and Tradeshow on Feb. 6.LIFEGARDThe FIRST Biological Plant ActivatorLifeGard triggers a plants immunity to disease & has no MRLs.44 SPUDSMART.COM SPRING 2020WWW.UAP.CA'