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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » Vegetable Crops Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #373661
Research Project: Maximizing the Impact of Potato Genebank Resources: Development and Evaluation of a Wild Species Genotype Diversity Panel

Location: Vegetable Crops Research

Title: Detrimental effects on chipping potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) yield and tuber quality following current-season infection of plants with ordinary and recombinant strains of potato virus Y

Author
item WEBER, ERIN - University Of Wisconsin
item Busse, James
item Bethke, Paul

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/15/2020
Publication Date: 11/18/2020
Citation: Weber, E.L., Busse, J.S., Bethke, P.C. 2020. Detrimental effects on chipping potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) yield and tuber quality following current-season infection of plants with ordinary and recombinant strains of potato virus Y. Plant Disease. 105(2):450-455. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-06-20-1281-RE.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-06-20-1281-RE

Interpretive Summary: Potato virus Y (PVY) is a disease that is spread from infected plants to non-infected plants by aphids. In this research, we quantified the effect of early season PVY infection on yield, tuber specific gravity, and chip processing quality using three varieties of chipping potatoes and four strains of the virus. The data showed that yield and specific gravity were reduced by infection with PVY, especially with the PVY N-Wilga strain. On the other hand, infection with PVY did not have an effect on chip color or chip processing defects. This work suggests that current-season infection of chipping potatoes imposes a cost on producers and emphasizes the need for continued investment in seed certification and development of PVY-resistant cultivars.

Technical Abstract: Potato virus Y (PVY) exists as multiple strains and is spread from plant to plant by aphids. PVY is transmitted across years when PVY-infected seed potatoes harvested in one year are planted the following year. Potatoes grown from PVY-infected seed have lower yields than virus-free plants, and tubers of some varieties have quality defects caused by infection with specific PVY strains. The impact of current-season PVY infection on yield and quality of chip processing potatoes is not well documented. In a replicated experiment conducted over two years, we measured the effect of current-season infection with four strains of PVY on chip processing varieties ‘Atlantic’, ‘Lamoka’ and ‘Snowden’ grown under controlled environment conditions. Current-season infection decreased yield and tuber specific gravity in specific cultivar by PVY strain combinations, but did not affect the appearance of chips including the prevalence of stem-end chip defects. This work suggests that current-season infection of chipping potatoes imposes a cost on producers and emphasizes the need for continued investment in seed certification and development of PVY-resistant cultivars.