Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

This project seeks, through activities coordinated across many Northeastern States, to develop potato varieties with improved agronomic, disease-resistance, and nutritional characteristics. It is anticipated that improved potato cultivars will help maintain the viability of rural economies, reduce dependence on pesticides, and contribute substantially toward maintaining a secure, safe and nutritious food supply. Two new chipping cultivars (Waneta and Lamoka) were released by the NY program in February 2011. Both have been extensively tested by the NE1031 network, and both were found to have chip color comparable to or better than the current industry standard, Snowden, as well as moderate to good resistance to common scab (Snowden is susceptible). Both are also resistant to golden nematode race Ro1 (Snowden is susceptible). Industry interest in Waneta and Lamoka is remarkably high, and seed acreage (about 85 acres for each in 2011) is not yet high enough to meet demand. Project milestones for 2011, and progress related to each of these, follow: 1. Inheritance of high carotenoid content in 4x-2x hybrids determined and crossing initiated to introgress traits of interest. Diploid clones with high, moderate, and low carotenoid levels that produced 2n pollen were crossed with light yellow-fleshed tetraploid advanced breeding selection to determine the inheritance of carotenoid content. There were no significant differences among families for carotenoid content, rather a continuous distribution of carotenoid concentration with high- and low-carotenoid segregants was observed in all families. Based on flesh color segregation, the yellow-fleshed diploid parents were heterozygous for the Chy2 allele governing yellow-flesh and produced 2n gametes by a second division restitution mechanism. It appears that selection for high-carotenoid tetraploid germplasm can be made from within any family with at least one yellow-fleshed parent. Selections will have to be made on an individual clonal basis rather than on a family basis. 2. Family means and variances for diploid families resulting from doubled monoploid x diploid and dihaploid x diploid hybrids, and open-pollinated diploids compared and breeding initiated to introgress traits of importance. Seventy clones from doubled monoploid x diploid, dihaploid x diploid, and open-pollinated diploids were planted in the field in Presque Isle, ME in 2011. Variables associated with female fertility were evaluated for 20 inflorescences/clone in 2011: number of buds&flowers per inflorescence, number of fruit per inflorescence, and number of seed per fruit. There were significant differences among families for all three measures of female fertility. In general, the doubled monoploid x diploid and dihaploid x diploid crosses produced more buds&flowers, more fruit, and more seeds than did the open-pollinated diploid family. Passage through the monoploid-sieve appears to eliminate deleterious genes associated with female fertility. 3. Pink rot resistant germplasm developed and molecular mapping efforts commenced. Pink rot cannot readily be controlled by fungicides, so there is a pressing need for cultivars with resistance. The cultivar Pike (previously developed by NE1031 participants) is highly resistant to pink rot, while the newly released cultivar Waneta is moderately resistant. A population of 213 progeny from a cross between Waneta and Pike is expected to segregate for resistance to pink rot and was genotyped with 8303 SNP markers in 2011. The population will be assessed for resistance to pink rot in 2012 or 2013, as sufficient tubers become available for inoculation, to so that pink rot resistance gene(s) can be mapped Short-term Outcomes: Potatoes can cost more than $2500 per acre to produce and devastating diseases such as pink rot and/or late blight can totally destroy the crop. Resistant varieties greatly decrease the risk of such losses and, in the case of late blight resistance, can reduce production costs by reducing the number of chemical sprays applied to protect the crop from the pest. The eastern potato breeding and selection effort produces new varieties and evaluates their potential to serve fresh, processing, and specialty markets in the East. Adoption and seed multiplication take considerable time in the potato industry, so impacts occur over a long time period. Recent eastern releases since 2002 (e.g. Marcy, Monticello, Harley Blackwell, Red Maria, Lehigh, Waneta, Lamoka and Peter Wilcox) were grown on 726 seed acres nationwide during 2011 with a seed value of $1,900,000. The resulting seed crop has the potential to plant 7200 acres in 2012 with a ware value conservatively estimated at $14.5M. Over a longer time frame, 20 varieties released by the Eastern programs since 1990 represented 3270 seed acres nationwide with a seed value of $8.6M. This seed crop has the potential to plant 33,800 acres in 2012 with a conservatively projected value of $66,000,000 Rural communities benefit from the release of new varieties because these varieties can improve yields, marketing opportunities, and pest resistance relative to standard varieties. Local, direct marketing outlets rely on high quality, specialty varieties such as Red Maria, Peter Wilcox and Lehigh, which are recent releases of this project. Growers cannot access larger-scale processing and fresh markets unless they are able to meet the stringent quality control requirements of these markets. Traditional varieties are increasingly deficient in these quality attributes and this puts eastern growers at a disadvantage unless new, well adapted varieties are developed and made available. The NE1031 project strives to develop new potato varieties which meet the needs of these growers. Pest resistant varieties allow potatoes to be grown where there otherwise could not be grown (e.g. golden nematode resistance is required for production in portions of NY) and/or provide growers with the opportunity to reduce pesticide applications (e.g. late blight resistance). Late blight resistance can improve grower profits, reduce the risk of catastrophic crop losses, and reduce the pesticide load on the agricultural system. All three can be beneficial to rural communities.

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