News on Potato Cyst Nematodes

After some 36 years with AHDB and its predecessor organisations, Potato Specialist Mike Storey is going to retire at Christmas. His colleague Adrian Cunnington looks back...

In an effort to limit the spread of the Potato Cyst Nematode, the government of India has prohibited the movement of seed potatoes from Himachal, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Jammu Kashmir to other states

Effective October 10, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) added an 87-acre field to the pale cyst nematode (PCN) infested area in Bingham County, Idaho.

Bill Watts has joined AHDB as Arable Knowledge Exchange Manager (Potatoes) for the West Midlands, South West and Wales.

Potato cultivation in the highlands of Indonesia is plagued by a number of pests, including Potato Cyst Nematodes and Phytophthora infestans. Dutch experts help their Indonesian counterparts to find the right approach for control.

A federal judge ruled that the United States government illegally quarantined some Idaho potato fields infested with potato cyst nematodes (PCN), a pest that could threaten the state’s $1.2 billion potato industry.

Although PCN testing of soil for seed potato cultivation is typically strictly regulated, different procedures are in use for the testing of soil for ware potatoes - and which one is used has huge consequences for the reliability.

A research project aims to improve the accuracy of the ‘AHDB Potatoes potato cyst nematode (PCN) pallida calculator’ which is currently used as an educational forecasting tool for potato growers in the United Kingdom.

The Jordan Ministry of Agriculture on Sunday said that a shipment at the Aqaba Port, Jordan, carrying 10,000 tonnes of potatoes allegedly infested with potato cyst nematodes, will not be allowed into the country.

A project underway in Aberdeen, Idaho, aims to develop russet potatoes with resistance to pale cyst nematode, while identifying new molecular markers associated with resistance.

Autoridades del sector agrícola, en conjunto con investigadores y productores, se mantienen en alerta por la presencia de esta plaga que afecta a los cultivos de papa en la zona sur del país. Ya son 25 los predios que se mantienen en cuarentena.

In a visit to the Nematode Quarantine laboratory at Cornell University last Friday, US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, announced a commitment of $400,000 from the USDA for the upgrades to the facilities and equipment.

Two recently released new Russet varieties - Castle Russet and Echo Russet - should help the potato industry in the Pacific Northwest cope with more stringent regulations on soil fumigants

A survey done in 20 counties in Kenya released earlier this month, shows that Potato Cyst Nematode infestation has reached 80 to 100 per cent in some of the potato growing areas.

In the United Kingdom, farming minster George Eustice (DEFRA) has approved a four-year trial of genetically modified (GM) potatoes at The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich.

The Northwest Potato Research Consortium recently approved a combined $1.5 million in grant funding to 37 research projects.

Progress is being made eradicating the microscopic potato cyst nematodes that have been threatening Idaho’s $900 million potato industry the last decade, according to the latest update by USDA-APHIS.

Durante acciones de vigilancia sanitaria agrícola de rutina, el Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero – SAG – detectó nuevos focos de NEMÁTODOS en siembras de papas ubicadas en la Península de Rilán, comuna de Castro.