Destructoraaltje (Ditylenchus destructor)

USDA’s Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) recently announced funding (USD 6.8M) for Potatoes and Pests – Actionable Science Against Nematodes (nicknamed PAPAS).

University of Idaho researchers are introducing genes from a plant in the nightshade family into potatoes, seeking to develop spuds that resist harmful nematodes.  The plant, called ‘litchi tomato’, has natural resistance to several species of cyst and root-knot nematodes.