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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #418932
Research Project: Advancing Knowledge of the Biology and Etiology of Bacterial Plant Pathogens Towards Management Strategies

Location: Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research

Title: Lessons learned from a grower supported mail-away PVY test project

Author
item Ingram, Jason
item MATTUPALLI, CHAKRADHAR - Washington State University
item CHARKOWSKI, AMY - Colorado State University
item Filiatrault, Melanie

Submitted to: Potato Association of America Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/15/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Potato virus Y (PVY) is the leading cause of seed lot rejections by seed potato certification programs in the U.S., as well as a significant disruptor for seed potato supply chain as certification process currently requires breaking tuber dormancy resulting in certification results to be delivered close to when the seed is shipped for replanting. Motivated to provide expedited results based on the detection of PVY directly from tubers, a grower supported mail-away PVY test project with 17 cooperators from 12 U.S. states involving 103 seed lots representing 36 cultivars was implemented in 2022. Onsite trained farm personnel used mail-away test kit materials to sample potato tuber tissues onto Whatman Flinders Technology Associates Plantsaver® (FTA) cards and shipped them to an ISO-certified molecular diagnostic laboratory for PVY detection using a reverse-transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assay. The mean turn-around time to process and report seed lots by the diagnostic lab was 12-days. The RT-qPCR results were then compared to the PVY levels that cooperators provided from their respective state seed certification programs for their seed lots. To account for differences in the state seed certification standards, seed generation levels, and privacyconcerns, a one percent PVY threshold level was adopted to compare results from both sources. With this one percent threshold limit, an agreement was observed for 88 % of seed lots (n=96). A survey of the cooperators indicated labor constraints to adopt the diagnostic protocol but also showed an interest in testing for additional potato pathogens besides PVY. The mail-away PVY test project provided a template for implementing a high-throughput molecular diagnostic protocol for direct tuber testing for PVY with a short turnaround time as well as a roadmap for responding rapidly to existing and emerging potato pathogens.