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Title: EVALUATION OF A SHORT-DAY ADAPTED TETRAPLOID POTATO POPULATION WITH HORIZONTAL RESISTANCE TO PHYTHPHORA INFESTANS UNDER LONG-DAY CONDITIONS IN NORTHERN MAINE

Author
item Haynes, Kathleen
item GOTH, ROBERT - USDA - RETIRED
item LAMBERT, D - UNIV OF MAINE
item CHRIST, B - PENN STATE UNIV

Submitted to: American Journal of Potato Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/22/2007
Publication Date: 11/1/2007
Citation: Haynes, K.G., Goth, R.W., Lambert, D.H., Christ, B.J. 2007. Evaluation of a short-day adapted tetraploid potato population with horizontal resistance to phythphora infestans under long-day conditions in northern Maine. American Journal of Potato Research. 84:459-466.

Interpretive Summary: Late blight is a very serious potato disease. We obtained a population of late blight resistant potatoes from the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru and evaluated them for their late blight resistance and other characteristics in Maine. This population had high levels of resistance to late blight under U.S. conditions, but had very late maturity, tuberized poorly, had short dormancy, and low fertility. These characteristics will limit the usefulness of this population for developing late blight resistant varieties for U.S. growing conditions. This information is of interest to potato breeders seeking late blight resistance in potatoes.

Technical Abstract: Phytophthora infestans, the cause of late blight, has rapidly overcome major (R) gene resistance in potatoes. A population of short-day adapted tetraploid potatoes with horizontal resistance to late blight was developed at the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru. True seed from this population was obtained from the NRSP-6 Project at Sturgeon Bay, WI for the purpose of evaluating its potential to contribute to the breeding effort for late blight resistance in the United States. In 1996, 552 single hills were planted on Chapman Farm, Presque Isle, ME; only 448 tuberized. In 1997, these clones were planted on Chapman Farm for increase; 129 were saved, 53 failed to tuberize, and 266 were discarded because they were sprouted at harvest. In 1998 and 1999, 69 clones were tested for their reaction to late blight in replicated plots on Aroostook Farm, Presque Isle, ME. Percent infected foliage was estimated three times towards the end of the season and used to compute area under the disease progress curve. Broad-sense heritability for horizontal resistance to late blight was estimated as 0.78 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.64 to 0.86. Using detached leaf assays, these clones were inoculated with US-8 strains of P. infestans and the diameter of the lesion was measured 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 days after inoculation. The correlation between field resistance and the detached leaf assay was very low (0.18