Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Brief summary of minutes of annual meeting (January 6-7, 2020; Building 010A, BARC-West, 10300 Baltimore Avenue). Attendees at the January 2020 annual NE1731 meeting were Craig Yencho (NC State), Mark Clough (NC State), Walter De Jong (Cornell U), Greg Porter (U ME), Ek Han Tan (U ME), Mark Huttton (U ME, now serving as administrative advisor), Xinshun Qu (PA State), Chris Clarke (USDA-ARS), Richard Jones (USDA-ARS), Lincoln Zotarelli (U FL), Michael Brooks (NJ grower), John Coombs (NJ grower), Ronny Abrams (NJ grower).

Project Business

Minutes from the 2019 meeting were approved as was the 2020 agenda.  Appointment of Committees:  Site selection – Raleigh NC, December 14-15, 2020.  Going forward, plan is to have face-to-face meetings every two years, with online meetings (e.g. Zoom) in alternate years.  Resolutions – Craig Yencho, Lincoln Zotarelli, Xinshun Qu.  Nominations – non-rotation continues.  Porter as chair, Clough as deputy chair, De Jong as secretary.

Administrative Advisor Report – M. Hutton.  Opportunity for NE1731 project to receive training in writing effective impact statements from NERA information management and communication team stands.  (Was scheduled for last year’s annual meeting, but had to be cancelled due to government shutdown).  NC hosts will look into scheduling this for next annual meeting.

National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Report  (TBD).  No NIFA representative was able to attend.

Research presentations

Chris Clarke (USDA-ARS) spoke on “Pest management options for diverse lineages of pathogenic Streptomyces, the causal agents of common scab disease”.   Current understanding is that thaxtomin A is key to pathogenicity. Sequencing 150 Streptomyces strains has revealed that: thaxtomin production machinery is necessary, but not sufficient for pathogenesis and there are more Streptomyces species than previously recognized.  General observation: scab pathogen can vary considerably across regions, e.g. scab pathogen in Maine is quite different from the scab pathogen in Wisconsin.  Chris is also testing whether non-pathogenic Streptomyces can be used as biocontrol agents for other potato diseases, e.g. Meloidogyne chitwoodii.

Richard Jones (USDA-ARS) presented on “Evaluating potential mechanisms of host resistance to early blight”.  Seeking to understand what differentiates Alternaria saprophytes from necrophytes.  One hypothesis: secreted cell-wall degrading enzymes trigger host cell death. His research group is seeking to identify such elicitors.

Han Tan’s talk (U. Mane): “Workflow automation for marker assisted breeding and genetics of disease resistance”.   Han is currently screening about 300 clones a year with markers for golden nematode and PVY resistance genes.   Small commercial freeze driers (e.g. from harvestright.com), combined with bead mills and Edwards buffer + SDS have simplified his group’s DNA extraction, while robotic pipettors have simplified PCR.

Don Weber (USDA-ARS) gave a talk on Colorado Potato Beetle management on January 7.  He provided an overview of cultural, biological, and behavioral control measures.  Producing pheromones at reasonable cost is often a barrier to their deployment.

State Reports

FL – 25,000 acres.  Fantastic growing season, weather-wise.  High yields.

ME – 52,000 acres.  60% fry and chips, 20% fresh, 20% seed.  Number 1 variety is still Russet Burbank.  The newer varieties Caribou Russet and Pomerelle Russet are, nevertheless, both looking good.  Weather varied by region: central ME had a wet summer, yields and quality were both good; parts of northern ME had much less rain, resulting in poor yield, including the NE1731 seed plots.  More pink eye has been observed in Russet Burbank in northern ME this year than ever before.

NY – 14,000 acres.   Wet spring considerably delayed planting, but dry fall ensured all potatoes could nevertheless be harvested.  Many growers are asking for improved round white tablestock varieties.

NC – 13,500 acres.  Wet start delayed planting, followed by many days above 90F during growing season resulted in greatly depressed yields.  It was a terrible year for yields, but an excellent year for evaluating susceptibility to internal heat necrosis.

OH – (From Matt Kleinhenz by email) OH is still primarily fresh market, with new interest in chipping out-of-the field.

PA – 5000 acres.  50% chip, 50% table.   Good growing season, good yield and quality.  Growers are asking for a replacement for Norwis (for diced and fresh-fry) and early-maturing chipping clones.

Comments from Industry

Three growers from NJ (Michael Brooks, John Coombs, Ronny Abrams) spoke about potato production in their state.  These three growers represent more than half of the 2000 acres of NJ potatoes.  For chipping potatoes, acreage is about half Atlantic, half Snowden.  Resistance to internal heat necrosis and early maturity are key to production.  Typically start planting April 1, and then start harvesting July 15 no matter what.  Ideal chip potato for NJ matures between Atlantic and Snowden and has a gravity of at least 1.080 (which Snowden often does not reach in NJ).

Pathology Reports

Greg Porter distributed  2019 scab trial data.  He noted that Jay Hao continues to screen for reaction to Dickeya, Pectobacterium, and pink rot.

Xinshun Qu distributed results of early and late blight testing from PA, as well as common scab trial results.

Breeding/Genetics Reports

Maine.  Disease priorities remain PVY, late blight, and common scab. 50% russets, 40% whites, 10% reds and specialty.  Seedling numbers were down by about 20% due to budgeting and staffing issues.  Selection rate 3% in seedling generation.  Intend to release AF4124-7 as ‘Hamlin Russet’.  Bulks early, fries well.  Breeder’s choices for 2020 are NDAF113484B-1 (red) and AF5280-5 (round white table).

New York.  Planted 18,000 seedlings, plan to lower to 15,000 in coming year.  Breeder’s choice is NY149 (yellow tablestock).

North Carolina.  Started selection at 85-95 days after planting, compared to 115 days post-planting in the past.  Many clones bulked/yielded well by this time.  Also began testing first-generation clones in three hill plots.  15 to 16K seedlings planned for 2020.  Heavy PVY pressure led to about 40% of seed plots getting rogued out in 2019. NC470-3, a chipping clone, is most promising clone in program at present; gravity similar to Atlantic.  NCB2607-3 is also of interest: small, red skin and yellow flesh, but lowish yield. 

NE1731 data collection and website

Northeast potato breeders decided in 2019 to test the Android “Fieldbook” app for collecting trait/trial data.  Mark Clough distributed tablets to audience for a hands-on learning exercise with this software, which can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store.  Tutorials are available online.

Brad Halladay of MediusAg is now contracted to host the NE1731 trial data.  Website is neproject.mediusag.com.  Brad walked us through how to use the new database.

Seed nursery

Greg’s program is taking over field production of seed from from the University of Maine Plant Pathology Program run by Jay Hao and formerly by Dave Lambert.  As noted above, yields were low in 2019; this will affect seed availability for 2020 trials.  All seed in Maine is now evaluated with a lab test instead of a winter grow-out in Florida. 

Breeder’s choices (all sites must evaluate these):

AF5280-5 (round white, competitor for Envol)

NDAF113484B-1 (red)

NY149 (yellow)

Reminder: standard varieties to include in all NE1731 trials:

          Atlantic

Dark Red Norland

Snowden

Superior

Yukon Gold

Eastern Region Potato Special Grant

2019 application was funded, but funds cannot be officially released until NIFA performs an administrative review.  With recent relocation of NIFA from DC to Kansas City, many awards (including ours) are experiencing processing delays.

New funding opportunities

Specialty crop polyploid tool proposal (NE1731 breeders are participants) will again be submitted in 2020.

Old Business

Greg submitted an impact statement in 2019.

New Business–

Unless funding materializes, we will lose the Long Island evaluation site in 2020.  We lost NJ several years ago when Mel Henninger retired.  Status of future evaluation in VA is unclear.

Committee Reports

Resolutions (moved De Jong, seconded Clough, approved unanimously):

Be it resolved on this 7^th day of January 2020, that the NE1731 group expresses sincere appreciation to:

1. Chris Clarke, USDA-ARS BARC, for hosting and assisting with logistics of the meeting as well as presenting his research on potato scab to the project members;
2. Mark Hutton, Associate Director of the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station, for attending our meeting and providing guidance as our Administrative Advisor;
3. Greg Porter from the University of Maine for his leadership and service as our project coordinator, including shepherding the special grant through each year.
4. The University of Maine technical and professional staff for their extensive efforts planting, rogueing, sampling, harvesting, packing, and shipping seed potatoes from the NE1731 seed potato nursery.
5. Mark Clough of North Carolina State University for his on-going database management and electronic data capture efforts on behalf of the NE1731 project
6. Brad Halladay of Medius Ag for attending this meeting, presenting an overview of the potato Variety Data Management (VDM) database, and sharing how to use the VDM to manage data from our potato variety trials
7. Potato growers Mike Brooks, John Coombs and Ronny Abrams from New Jersey for attending our meeting on Monday and advocating for a renewal of collaborative variety evaluation in New Jersey with Rutgers University or a private consultant;
8. Walter De Jong from Cornell University for serving as the NE1731 Secretary; and
9. All NE1731 presenters, potato breeders, cultural management specialists, plant pathologists, entomologists, industry collaborators, and trial cooperators for their dedication to our group effort and their intellectual engagement in the process of potato improvement, selection, and variety development. We are fortunate to have such good collaborators!

Other Business – none

Adjournment – January 7, 11:35 am.

Project Accomplishments:

This multidisciplinary, regional project utilizes existing strengths and resources of the potato breeding and variety development community in the eastern US, and it encourages the pooling of regional resources and promotes increased communication within the potato community located in the northeast, mid-Atlantic and southeast. The overarching goal of this project is to identify new potato varieties for use in the Northeastern, mid-Atlantic and southeast US, which will contribute to a more sustainable and profitable potato industry. Many major US varieties, including Atlantic (the dominant out-of-field chipping variety in the US) and Lamoka (the dominant out-of-storage chipping variety in the US) are products of the coordinated eastern potato breeding and variety development effort. As such, the NE-1731 Project and its predecessors NE-1231, NE-1031, NE-1014, NE-184 and NE-107 have played a central role in eastern potato variety development for many years. 

This regional project has: 1) allowed potato breeders to share breeding materials and test results; 2) along with the USDA NRSP6 Potato Germplasm Enhancement Project it has facilitated potato germplasm selection and evaluation under diverse environmental conditions by all the breeding programs in the eastern US; 3) given research and extension personnel the opportunity to evaluate new selections from several potato breeding programs; 4) facilitated regional germplasm screening for specific characteristics at a single location (e.g. early blight, late blight, and common scab resistance in PA; scab and virus resistance in ME); 5) developed variety profiles and cultural recommendations for each selection put into commercial production; and 6) as noted above, resulted in the release and adoption of many of the major potato cultivars currently produced in the eastern US.

Potato breeding for improved quality and pest resistance was conducted in ME, NY, NC, and USDA-ARS Beltsville, MD during 2019. These four programs focus on specific pest and marketing issues, so that regional resources are used efficiently.  For example, ME is the only breeding program in the region which focuses on russets and long whites for processing (50% russets, 40% fresh and chipping whites, 10% specialty).  ME also emphasizes research on late blight, pink rot, potato virus Y, and scab resistance.  NY emphasizes white-skinned chipping crosses, but also selects fresh market clones of varying skin and flesh colors.  NY emphasizes resistance to golden nematode, but also crossing for late blight, virus, white cyst nematode, and other resistance.  During 2019, NY made additional crosses with several clones (Nautilus and Tokio from Germany; Innovator from the Netherlands; Abalo, Feleke, Siquare from Ethiopia) from distant breeding programs in 2019 to broaden the program’s overall genetic base.  During 2019, NY made crosses with Innovator – one of a handful of cultivars in the world with high levels of resistant to Globodera pallida – to bring higher levels of pallida resistance into our germplasm just in case pallida ever becomes a major threat to U.S. potato production.  During 2019, our programs generated 643 new tetraploid families (445,850 seeds) from crosses using parents with desirable quality, utilization, adaptation, and/or pest resistance traits. Progeny (74,435) from earlier crosses were field selected resulting in 3371 clones that will be further selected during 2020 under conditions with diverse abiotic and biotic stress in the eastern U.S. and beyond.

NC’s potato breeding program focuses on resistance to pests as well as heat-stress tolerance and resistance to internal heat necrosis.  During the Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 crossing seasons 88% of the NC pedigrees generated have at least one parent that is resistant to PVY carrying either the Ry_adg or Ry_sto resistance trait, 16% of pedigrees have at least one parent with some level of Colorado potato beetle resistance. Following selection in the 2019 field season 38% of clones cycle 2 and up have been confirmed to carry the Ry_adg marker, 2% carry the Rysto marker and 45% contain the H1 marker that is associated with golden nematode resistance.  In NC all crosses have pedigrees where either one or both parents has shown good adaptation for heat stress in the form of internal heat necrosis resistance as well as solid accumulation, tuber set and/or tuber bulking. This past cycle 250 crosses were made totaling near 107,300 true seed.

ME continues to advance marker assisted selection (MAS) protocols for potato breeding and is improving the automation process to speed throughput. A training module is also being developed to streamline and train more personnel as well as to increase efficiency and accuracy of the MAS procedures. Work is also underway to develop mapping populations using elite tetraploid potato germplasm that contain PVY, late blight and black leg resistance to investigate the genetic components of these important traits. We continue to evaluate primary dihaploid progeny of haploid induction crosses using the IVP48 haploid inducer on Atlantic, Caribou Russet and NY121. Additionally, whole genome sequencing libraries were generated and Illumina sequencing will be performed. We plan to evaluate the inheritance of late blight and PVY resistance in the NY121 dihaploid population, and for blackleg and soft rot resistance in the Caribou Russet dihaploid population. In 2020, we induced six additional elite tetraploid lines using IVP48; Castle Russet, Payette Russet, Lamoka, NY121, Dakota Trailblazer and Saginaw Chipper. Seed extraction, tissue culture germination and ploidy determination are underway.

Evaluating tuber yield under high and low N fertilizer rates can be used to identify germplasm that performs well under low N but also responds well to increasing N, which could provide a rapid high through-put method to identify NUE germplasm. This presents a problem because wild species of potatoes often fail to tuberize under the long-day conditions present in potato growing regions in the U.S. A diploid S. phureja-S. stenotomum (phu-stn) population from USDA-ARS Beltsville is adapted to long-days and many clones in the population produce 2n pollen, allowing for crosses between commercial tetraploids and diploids. We have crossed phu-stn and NUE Solanum chacoensis to produce several hybrid families expected to segregate for tuberization efficiency and NUE. The evaluation of these families will provide information on the heritability of these traits and guide future breeding efforts to develop new potato varieties with improved NUE. From these populations, there were only 20 clones that tuberized. These 20 clones were used in the crossing block in 2019 and backcrossed to phu-stn and haploid S. tuberosum in order to improve the tuberization efficiency in the next generation.  Maybe with 75% adapted background and only 25% unadapted background they will tuberize better.  The 20 clones were evaluated in small plots in FL during 2019 and will be tested for NUE in future growing seasons.

Advanced clones from our project were introduced to growers through field days, presentations, publications, web sites, and direct contact with stakeholders.  Nine advanced clones were entered into tissue culture programs leading to commercial seed production. Several advanced clones and newly released varieties are currently being evaluated in commercial scale trials on-farm for their potential across the US.  Two of NY’s recent chipping releases Waneta (NY138) and Lamoka (NY139) have been widely adopted by commercial growers.  Based on 2019 certified seed acreage, Lamoka (3376 acres) has replaced Snowden (1789 acres) as the standard storage chipping variety across the U.S. Waneta has also been widely adopted (1114 acres of seed in 2019).  We estimate that the annual value of potato chip production from Lamoka and Waneta exceeds one billion dollars (~15% of U.S. chip production).  Lady Liberty (2018), formerly NY152, was released for chipping and has high yields, excellent chip color out of cold storage, common scab resistance, and small tuber size profile (which makes it well-suited for highly popular, snack-sized bags of potato chips).  National seed acreage increased to 178 during 2019, ranking it 48th in the U.S. just one year after its official variety release.  NY162, a promising late season chipstock clone, is currently being evaluated by Potatoes USA (SNAC trials) as an out-of-the field chipping clone in Southern states.  It has yields similar to Atlantic, specific gravity about 0.005 less than Atlantic. Tubers are round to oblong with moderately textured skin. Intermediate reaction to common scab. Resistant to race Ro1 of the golden nematode.  Eighteen clones from the eastern states have been in the Potatoes USA fast-track chip program since 2011, and the programs supported under this grant have annually contributed up to 40% of clones in the Potatoes USA National Chip Processors Trials (NCPT).

For fresh market, NY released Brodie (NY140) during 2018 as a dual-purpose table and chipstock variety with excellent marketable yields, attractive tuber skin and excellent fry color out of cold storage. U.S. seed acreage increased to 47 in 2019, ranking it 101^st nationally.  It is the first U.S. cultivar with resistance to race Ro2 of the golden nematode and it is also resistant to race Ro1.  Ro1 is the long-time golden nematode pest in New York, while Ro2 is a newer race that has become increasingly difficult to manage in New York.   NY also released Upstate Abundance (NY150) and Algonquin (NY141) during 2017. Algonquin seed acreage totaled 28 during 2019, ranking it 130^th nationally.  It is being grown for fresh market and is a white skinned, white fleshed variety.  It has high yields and good tuber appearance as well as resistance to common scab and golden nematode.  Upstate Abundance is a specialty white with very small, bright tubers. It has potato virus Y (PVY), late blight, and golden nematode resistance as well as moderate common scab tolerance. It is being commercialized by specialty fresh market growers.  The University of Maine released Pinto Gold (AF4659-12) in 2018.  It is a pinto-type, yellow-fleshed ‘roasting’ variety is also being commercialized by small-scale local foods markets and has been favorably received in this high-value market.  Other fresh market releases Red Maria (2010), a high-yielding red, Lehigh (2007), a widely-adapted yellow-fleshed variety, and Peter Wilcox (2007), a novel purple-skinned, yellow-fleshed variety continue to be adopted by fresh market growers.  

Caribou Russet was released by ME during 2015 for fry processing and russet fresh market.  It is being rapidly adopted due to high yields, scab and verticillium resistance, and excellent consumer quality.  Certified seed acreage rose to 783 acres (#24 in the US) during 2019.  Caribou Russet’s cash farm value to ME growers was $9.1 M during 2019. AF4124-7, AF5071-2, and AF5406-7 are advanced fry processing clones that are generating commercial interest.  Twenty additional French fry clones are currently being evaluated by North American potato processors.  Reveille Russet from TX has been tested in NE1731 regional trials and shows promise as a fresh market russet.

Each eastern breeding program submits its most promising advanced clones to the regional project’s seed nursery in ME.  During 2019, the project distributed seed potatoes for 12 regional potato variety trials conducted in seven states and two Canadian provinces.  Eleven standard varieties and 27 experimental clones were tested for yield, tuber quality, and pest resistance. All trials were grown using standard commercial cultural practices. Marketable yield, tuber quality and appearance, maturity, storage life and processing potential were evaluated and compared to commercial standards.   The diverse environmental conditions present in the eastern U.S. allow us to quickly screen potato clones for stress sensitivity as well as broad adaptation and suitability to specific growing areas and markets.  Multi-site evaluation of early-generation clones speeds the breeding and selection process and enables us to identify both broadly- and specifically-adapted clones that will be useful to the U.S. potato industry and potato growers at all scales of production.  Considering yield and quality attributes the most promising clones by market type were: chipping (Lady Liberty, AF5040-8, and NY162); fresh market whites (AF4648-2, AF5280-5, NDAF102629C-4); russet and long-whites (Caribou Russet, Reveille Russet, AF4124-7, AF5071-2, AF5406-7, and AAF10615-1), reds and specialty (Pinto Gold, AF5245-1, NDAF113484B-1, and NY149).   Similar variety trials will be conducted during 2020 to further select clones to advance to commercial trials.  Each regional trial site reports results to their local stakeholders and submits their data to the project website coordinator located in NC.  The data are entered into a searchable database so that results are accessible to stakeholders and researchers anywhere in the world.

Our project web site and searchable database continue to grow in size and utility.  The database has now migrated to a more powerful and user-friendly Variety Data Management platform (https://neproject.medius.re/).  The web site provides current contact information for project cooperators and recent research reports, as well as access to our regional variety database and a dynamic summary generator for all released varieties. This new database can provide side-by-side comparative data for potato clones and varieties as well as advanced analytical tools.

New varieties and descriptions.

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.

Advanced Experimental Potato Clones Showing Particular Promise in 2019 include:

• AF4124-7 (A8469-5 x SC9512-4), a medium maturing, russet with good fry quality, fair tuber appearance, early sizing, and high yields.  US#1 yields have averaged ~119% of standard russeted varieties (usually Russet Burbank) in Maine trials.  Specific gravity is moderate (average of 1.085 in ME trials) and fry color from storage has been good.  It is moderately resistant to scab and has good blackspot bruise resistance. 
• AF4648-2 (NY132 x Liberator), a mid-season, round to oblong white with good yields, moderately-high gravity, bruise resistance, very good chip color, and good appearance.   It could go for chipping or fresh market.  It has good scab resistance and is resistant to golden nematode and PVY. 

• AF5040-8 (AF2376-5 x Lamoka), a mid-season, high yielding, high gravity chipper with pale yellow flesh and relatively small tubers. It has good internal quality and chips from 50F storage, but it will most likely be useful as an alternative to Atlantic for out-of-field chipping.  It is susceptible to common scab.
• AF5071-2 (AF3011-29 x AF3051-2), a late maturing, russet with good fry quality, fair tuber appearance, and high yields. Specific gravity is higher than Russet Burbank and fry color from storage has been good.  Fry color uniformity is very good. It is moderately susceptible to scab and hollow heart, but has moderate verticillium, blackspot, and shatter resistance.
• AF5245-1 (Michigan Purple x Villetta Rose), a purple-skinned specialty clone with white flesh, moderate common scab resistance, small tubers, and good tuber appearance.

• AF5406-7 (AF3317-15 x Silverton Russet), a late-maturing russet with good yields, large tubers, and resistance to late blight, scab, blackspot, shatter, verticillium, fusarium, and pink rot.  It will most likely be useful for processing markets
• AF5280-5 (ND7791C-1 x ND860-2), an early, round to oblong white with good yields, large tubers, moderate-low gravity, good chip color, and good appearance.  It could go for early-  fresh market.  It has good scab, bruise, hollow heart, pink rot, and golden nematode resistance. 
• AAF10615-1 (A02645-7 x Premier Russet), a mid-season, lightly russeted processing clone with good yields, large tubers, outstanding fry color, and resistance to potato virus Y,  blackspot, and verticillium. 
• NC470-3 (Marcy X BNC182-5), a round to oblong PVY-resistant (Ryadg) chipper that starts to bulk early, is promising.  Nationally trialed through the NCPT in 2016 and 2017 specific gravity was within 2 points of Atlantic overall, visual out of the field chip color was also similar to Atlantic (two tenths better on average) and percent yield of number one size tubers was 2% better than Atlantic. Yield trials in North Carolina to date have had similar results, except that marketable yields have been 136% of Atlantic.
• NC507-15 (NCH52-1 X BNC240-2), a promising specialty clone (red skin, red flesh). With oblong to long shapes, this clone is a fingerling type with 78% of yield being below 2 ½” and 38% below 1 7/8”.
• NC509-16 (NCH52-1 X BNC244-5), a promising specialty clone (purple skin, dark purple flesh).  Shapes are oblong, with very smooth tight skin, 63% of total yield is below 2 ½”, 44% between 1 7/8 and 2 ½”.

• NCB3171-1 (NY121 X Ivory Crisp), an early maturing, round, PVY-resistant (Ryadg) chip type. Trialed in the NCPT in 2016 and 2017 gravity averaged within 3 points of Atlantic across all trials, size profile overall is smaller than Atlantic but total yield was 104% of Atlantic. In North Carolina yield trials have shown this clone to be similar in gravity and 119% of Atlantic for marketable yield.
• NDAF113484B-1 (ND060570B-1R x ND8555-8R), a pretty, mid-season, red with bright skin that holds its color well in storage. It has white flesh and mid-season maturity with moderate scab, shatter, and blackspot resistance)

• NY149 (Yukon Gold x Keuka Gold), a yellow-fleshed with pink eyes and moderate to high yields.  NY149 has a smaller tuber size profile than Yukon Gold along with lower incidence of internal and external defects.  It has moderate scab resistance and resistance to golden nematode.
• NY162 (E106-2 x E48-2), a late-season, moderate to high specific gravity, chip stock clone.  It has round to oblong tubers with netted skin. Yields have been high in many NY trials.  Chip color from storage is very good.  It has low incidence of external defects and relatively low hollow heart incidence (4% across 11 trials). It has moderate scab resistance and is resistant to golden nematode (Ro1). 
• NY165 (NY148 x F48-4), a mid-season, moderate to high specific gravity, chip stock clone.  It has round to oblong tubers with slightly netted skin. Yields have been high in many NY trials.  Chip color from storage is very good.  It has very good scab resistance and is resistant to golden nematode (Ro1). 

Short-term Outcomes:

1. Eastern potato growers need new potato varieties which are highly productive and less susceptible to stress, diseases, and insects than current varieties. This regional potato breeding and trial network produces new potato varieties and evaluates their potential to serve fresh, processing, and specialty potato markets in the East.  These new varieties will improve grower profitability by increasing yields, enhancing market quality, and/or decreasing costs associated with pests.   Farm gate receipts for eastern potato production exceed 460 million dollars annually, therefore the impact of a successful new potato cultivar can mean many millions of dollars to the industry over time. 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 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.  Several areas in NY could not produce potatoes without the golden nematode resistant varieties developed as part of this and other research projects.  Internal heat necrosis (IHN) is a common stress-related defect in the mid-atlantic and southeastern U.S.  NC provides excellent screening sites to screen for this defect in an effort to select more stress-tolerant potato varieties.  During 2019, NC screened > 500 advanced and preliminary clones from 11 states and 2 USDA ARS potato breeding programs for resistance to IHN. The 2019 potato production season was exceptional for the expression of IHN because of 10 to 14 days of above average temperatures in late May.  A greenhouse study was also initiated to evaluate early expression of RNA molecules in stressful and non-stressful environments attempting to discover genes turned on in relation to IHN prior to visible expression.

2. Over the years, the eastern regional project has resulted in the release of many commercially important potato varieties (e.g. Atlantic, Andover, Caribou Russet, Harley Blackwell, Kanona, Keuka Gold, Lamoka, Lehigh, MaineStay, Marcy, Monticello, Pike, Sunrise, and Waneta). Upstate Abundance, a white-skinned variety from NY with small attractive tubers for the specialty trade; Peter Wilcox, a purple-skinned yellow-fleshed specialty variety from the USDA-ARS program; Pinto Gold, a yellow-flesh, red and yellow skinned specialty variety from ME; Algonquin, a round-white with large attractive tubers from NY; Red Maria, a high yielding, red-skinned variety from NY; and Lehigh, a yellow-fleshed dual-purpose variety from NY, are six of the more recent fresh market releases from the eastern programs.  Lamoka (NY139) and, Waneta (NY138) and are two NY chipping releases that have attracted considerable commercial interest.  Based on 2019 certified seed acreage, Lamoka (3376 acres) has replaced Snowden (1789 acres) as the standard storage chipping variety across the U.S. Waneta has also been widely adopted (1114 acres of seed in 2019).  We estimate that the annual value of potato chip production from Lamoka and Waneta exceeds one billion dollars (~15% of U.S. chip production).  Lady Liberty (2018) is poised to become the next eastern potato variety release to have a large-scale impact on chipping potato production in the U.S. Caribou Russet was released by ME during 2015 for fry processing and russet fresh market.  It is being rapidly adopted due to high yields, scab and verticillium resistance, and excellent consumer quality.  Certified seed acreage rose to 783 acres (#24 in the US) during 2019.  Caribou Russet’s cash farm value to ME growers was $9.1 M during 2019. AF4124-7, AF5071-2, and AF5406-7 are advanced fry processing clones that are generating commercial interest.  Twenty additional French fry clones are currently being evaluated by North American potato processors.  Reveille Russet from TX has been tested in NE1731 regional trials and shows promise as a fresh market russet.  Potato seed multiplication and commercial adoption are slow processes; therefore, so it will take years to know the full impacts of these varieties on eastern potato production.  For chipping markets, eighteen clones from the eastern states have been in the Potatoes USA fast-track chip program since 2011, and the programs supported under this grant have annually contributed up to 40% of clones in the Potatoes USA National Chip Processors Trials (NCPT).

3. As evidenced above, the advanced clones and releases from the Eastern project continue to be commercially evaluated and adopted by farmers and our industry stakeholders. Recent Eastern releases were grown on 3,185 ME and NY seed acres during 2019 with a seed value of ~$11.2M.  The resulting seed crop had the potential to plant 31,851 acres in 2020 with a ware value estimated at $95.6M.  Nationally, varieties produced by our long-term project were grown on 6,863 seed acres during 2019 with an approximate seed value of $24.0M and potential ware production value of $205.9M.  Several varieties developed though our collective efforts are in the top 100 U.S. varieties including (acres, rank): Lamoka (3376, 7), Waneta (1114, 17), Caribou Russet (783, 24), Lehigh (399, 35), Lady Liberty (178, 48), Reba (149, 57), Pike (112, 70), Keuka Gold (96, 75), Andover (87, 79), Eva (85, 80), NY115 (74, 86), Genesee (67, 90) and Harley Blackwell (55, 96). Atlantic, released in 1971 by USDA-ARS Beltsville and selected by a predecessor of this project, remains the top publicly-released, out-of-field chip potato variety in the US (2334 acres, ranks 9^th in US).

4. The project places special emphasis on breeding and selecting clones with resistance to late blight, early blight, scab, golden nematode races Ro1 and Ro2, and potato virus Y (PVY). Advanced clones in our programs typically have resistance to several important potato pests and/or physiological disorders. As examples, Caribou Russet has resistance to verticillium wilt, common scab, softrot, and powdery scab as well as excellent bruise resistance; Cornell releases typically have golden nematode resistance and scab tolerance, plus many recent releases also have resistance to potato virus Y and late blight; Upstate Abundance (formerly NY150), released by Cornell in 2017, has resistance to late blight, common scab, potato virus Y, and golden nematode;  Brodie (tested as NY140) was released by Cornell University during 2018.  Brodie is a dual-purpose table and chipstock variety with excellent marketable yields, attractive tuber skin and excellent fry color out of cold storage.  It is the first U.S. cultivar with resistance to race Ro2 of the golden nematode and it is also resistant to race Ro1. Ro1 is the long-time golden nematode pest in New York, while Ro2 is a newer race that has become increasingly difficult to manage in New York.    Golden nematode, a serious pest found in NY and in other countries, cannot be effectively managed without resistant varieties. All NY round whites, and most of the NY colored crosses, segregate for resistance to golden nematode Ro1 or Ro2, as do many crosses from the ME, NC and USDA programs. Marker-assisted selection for potato virus Y (PVY) and golden nematode resistance is now an integral part of our breeding programs. Disease screening trials in PA were used to evaluate varieties and advanced breeding clones for early blight resistance (288 clones), late blight resistance (407 clones), and common scab resistance (286 clones).  These data are used to select resistant varieties/breeding clones. A population of 197 clones of diploid Solanum phureja – S. stenotomum hybrid was evaluated for late blight resistance. This diploid population is being genotyped using the Illumina Solanaceae Coordinated Agricultural Project (SolCAP) potato single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. Candidate genes responsible for late blight resistance will be identified. A population of 230 clones from a cross between Harley Blackwell and B0692-4 was also evaluated for early blight resistance.  All clones are being genotyped and candidate genes governing early blight resistance are being identified.  Experiments in ME are being used to identify clones with resistance to pink rot, black leg, and softrot.  Caribou Russet from the Maine breeding program and several diploid clones from USDA-ARS at Beltsville have shown high levels of resistance to blackleg and softrot’s causative organisms, Dickeya dianthicola and Pectobacterium parmentieri. These clones will be further investigated by genomic mapping.   Disease resistant varieties generated by this project have the potential to greatly reduce growers’ losses to devastating diseases such as late blight and can also reduce production costs. Colorado potato beetle (CPB) is also a significant pest of potato in the U.S.  In 2019, NC conducted three Colorado potato beetle resistance screens totaling 250 clones.  Thirty-six were advanced to the next round of screening in 2020. We believed resistance was primarily derived from the foliar expressed glycoalkaloid leptine but foliar glykoalkoid evaluations in 2019 have indicated this is not the case.

5. Our project web site and searchable database continues to grow in size and utility. The database has now migrated to a more powerful and the user-friendly Variety Data Management platform (https://neproject.medius.re/).  The web site provides current contact information for project cooperators and recent research reports, as well as access to our regional variety database and a dynamic summary generator for all released varieties. This new database can provide side-by-side comparative data for potato clones and varieties as well as advanced analytical tools.

Outputs:

1. Cultivars released this year:

We did not officially release any new potato varieties during 2019; however, we have several promising potato clones in commercial trials and several will likely be released during 2020.  In addition, commercialization of our recent releases continued as is summarized above. 

Release Update:  Lady Liberty is the new name for NY152 which was released in 2018 by Cornell University under the initial name of Niagara.  Lady Liberty was released for chipping and has high yields, excellent chip color out of cold storage, common scab resistance, potato virus Y resistance, and small tuber size profile (which makes it well-suited for highly popular, snack-sized bags of potato chips). 

Refereed Journal Papers

Christensen, C.T., L. Zotarelli, K.G. Haynes, C.E. Kelly. 2020. The comparative evaluation of the effects of gibberellic acid concentrations on dormancy break in tubers of Solanum chacoense. Horttechnology 20:76-81.  https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH4448-19

Haynes, K.G., L. Zotarelli, C.T. Christensen, S.Walker. 2019. Early Generation Selection Within a Diploid Hybrid Solanum tuberosum Groups Phureja and Stenotomum Population for the Specialty Potato Market in the United States. HortScience 54(12):2118-2124. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI13576-18

Comai L.,E.H. Tan. 2019. Haploid Induction and Genome Instability. Trends in Genetics, doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2019.07.005

Dandurand L-M, I.A. Zasada, X. Wang, B. Mimee, W. De Jong, R. Novy,  J. Whitworth, J.C. Kuhl.  2019. Current Status of Potato Cyst Nematodes in North America. Annual Review of Phytopathology 57: 117-133.  https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-phyto-082718-100254

Johnson, A.M., G. Porter, and M.E. Camire.  2019.  Low-acrylamide French Fry Acceptance: A Pilot Study.  Journal of Food Science.  84(12) 3717-3725.

Kolech, S.A. W. De Jong, D. Halseth, S. Schulz S.  2019.  Understanding farmer needs and unlocking local genetic resources for potato improvement: a case study in Ethiopia.

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development 19:13883-13905.

DOI: 10.18697/ajfand.84.BLFB1012

Massa, A.N, N. C. Manrique-Carpintero, J. Coombs, K.G. Haynes, P.C. Bethke, T.L. Brandt, S.K. Gupta, G.C. Yencho, R.G. Novy and D.S. Douches. 2018. Linkage analysis and QTL mapping in a tetraploid russet mapping population of potato. BMC Genetics 19:87.

Schmitz Carley C.A., J.J. Coombs, M.E. Clough, W.S. De Jong, D.S. Douches, K.G. Haynes,  C.R. Higgins, D.G. Holm, J.C. Miller, F.M. Navarro, R.G. Novy, J.P. Palta, D.L. Parish, G.A. Porter, V.R. Sathuvalli, A.L. Thompson, L. Zotarelli, G.C. Yencho, J.B. Endelman. 2019. Genetic Covariance of Environments in the Potato National Chip Processing Trial.

Crop Science 58:1-8.  doi: 10.2135/cropsci2018.05.0314

Published Abstracts

Porter, G.A., P. Ocaya, and T. Mills.   2019.  Nitrogen rate effects on yield and fry processing quality of Caribou Russet.  American Journal of Potato Research.  96: 317 (abst)

Silva, A.L.B.R., L.G. Pesantes, W. Mussoline, G.K. England, L. Zotarelli. 2019. N-fertilizer rate and timing for potato irrigated with seepage and subsurface drain-tile in Florida. 2019 Proceedings of the Potato Association of America Annual Meeting. Winnipeg, Canada. p.39.

Other Publications

Kleinhenz, M.D., S.D. Walker. 2019. 2019 Ohio potato germplasm evaluation report, in Cooperation with the Northeast (NE-1731) Regional Project, The Ohio State University Horticulture and Crop Science Series No. 877, Nov. 2019. 68 pp.

Krupek, F.S., S. Sargent, P.J. Dittmar, L.Zotarelli. 2018. Seed piece spacing adjustment for Florida chipping potatoes. Horticultural Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida EDIS Publication HS1337. 5p. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs1317

Pesantes, L.G., L. Zotarelli. 2019. Seed piece spacing study for table stock potatoes. Potato Field Day 2019. 2p. Handouts of field day.

Pesantes, L.G., L. Zotarelli. 2019. Timing and rate application of phosphorus to chipping potato Atlantic. Potato Field Day 2019. 1p. Handouts field day.

Porter, G.A., P. Ocaya, B. MacFarline, and B. Plummer.  2019.  Potato variety trial results in Maine, 2019 growing season.   SFA Research Report (posted on www and distributed to industry), 2019-01, 39 pp. Also available at https://potatoes.ncsu.edu/NEReports.html

Porter, G.A. and P. Ocaya.  2020.  Progress report on potato variety development research - 2019 Growing Season.  Report to the Maine Potato Board, submitted February 2020, 8 pp.

Porter, G.A. and P. Ocaya.  2020.  Progress report on Maine potato breeding program – 2019 growing season.   Report to the Maine Potato Board, submitted February 2020, 12 pp.            

Qu X.S., W.Y. Xue, M.W. Peck.  2019.  Field evaluation of potato cultivars and breeding lines for resistance to late blight in Pennsylvania, 2018.  Plant Disease Management Reports 13:V046.

Qu X.S., W.Y. Xue, M.W. Peck 2019.  Field evaluation of potato cultivars and breeding lines for resistance to common scab in Pennsylvania, 2018.  Plant Disease Management Reports 13:V061.

Qu X.S., W.Y. Xue, M.W. Peck 2019.  Field evaluation of potato cultivars and breeding lines for resistance to early blight in Pennsylvania, 2018.  Plant Disease Management Reports 13:V075.

Qu X.S., W.Y. Xue, M.W. Peck 2019.  Evaluation of fungicides for control of potato early blight in Pennsylvania, 2018.  Plant Disease Management Reports 13:V005.

Qu X.S., W.Y. Xue, M.W. Peck 2019.  Evaluation of foliar fungicides for control of potato late blight in Pennsylvania, 2018.  Plant Disease Management Reports 13:V006.

PRESENTATIONS:

Clough, M. and C. Yencho. 2018. Annual grower update - Pasquotank Regional Potato Grower Meeting Dec 5^th 2018

Clough, M.. 2019. Promising varieties in the mid-Atlantic- Eastern Shore Vegetable EXPO  Feb. 23 2019

Clough, M. 2019. Promising varieties for NC – Surry County Specialty Crop Roundtable Feb. 29 2019

DeJong, W.S.  2019.  Potato Show&Tell, December 2019, Ithaca NY.

DeJong, W.S.  2019 ‘Update on Cornell Chip Breeding’, 21 February 2019, Western NY Grower-Processor Meeting, Hornell NY.

DeJong, W.S.  2019 ‘Lady Liberty, a New Variety with Excellent Chip Color from Cold Storage’, 21 March 2019, Northeast Potato Technology Forum, Charlottetown PEI.

DeJong, W.S. 2019.  Potato Variety Trials 2018. Potato Twilight Meeting, Germansville, PA, September 19, 2019

Porter, G.A. and P. Ocaya.  2020.  Progress report on new potato variety research - 2019 Growing Season.  Report to the Maine Potato Board, Presque Isle, ME.  March 10, 2020.

Porter, G.A., P. Ocaya, and K. Brown.  2020.  Progress report on Maine potato breeding program – 2019 growing season.   Report to the Maine Potato Board, Presque Isle, ME. March 10, 2020.

Porter, G.A.  2020.  Caribou Russet Management.  Presentation at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Potato Conference, Caribou, ME. January 23, 2020.

Porter, G.A., P. Ocaya, and K. Brown.  2020.  Progress report on potato variety research and potato breeding at the University of Maine - 2019 Growing Season.  Report to the NE1731 Eastern Regional Technical Committee, Beltsville, MD.  January 6-7, 2020.

Qu, X.S.  2019.  Pennsylvania Potato Germplasm Trials in Pennsylvania 2018.  Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Conference, Hershey, PA, January 30, 2019.

Qu, X.S.  2019.  Potato Variety Research at Penn State. Eastern Pennsylvania Potato Day, Schnecksville, PA, March 13, 2019

Yencho, G.C. and M. Clough. 2019 Potato Breeding and Genetics @ NC State. NE 1731 Annual Meeting, USDA ARS, BARC, Beltsville, MD, Jan. 3-4, 2019.

Zotarelli, L. 2018. Fine tuning seed spacing, irrigation and nitrogen management for potatoes in Florida. Certified Crop Advisors, Gainesville, FL. (broadcast statewide).  11 Nov. 2018.

TOURS, FIELD DAYS, TRADES SHOWS (INCLUDE DATES):

Clough, M.  2019.  Potato EXPO Jan 8 – 11^th 2019

Clough, M.  2019.  NCSU/Black Gold Farms Show and Tell, Gum Neck NC, May19th, 2019

De Jong, W.S.  2019.  Twilight Potato Meeting, 12 August 2019.  Corey Mark Farm, Wayland NY

Porter, G.A., P. Ocaya, and T.Mills   2020.  Maine potato breeding program.  University of Maine Cooperative Extension Potato Conference, Caribou, ME. January 23 and 24, 2020.

Porter, G.A. 2019.  Potato breeding, variety development, and management research update.  Field day presentation  to the general public and to the Maine Potato Board, Presque Isle, ME.  August 20, 2019.

Qu, X.S. 2019.  Potato Show, Ag Progress Days, The Pennsylvania State University's Research Farms, August 13–15, 2019

Qu, X.S. 2019.  Potato Field Day, Erie County, PA, September 20, 2019

Qu, X.S. 2019.  Potato Field Day, Lehigh County, PA, September, 2019

WEB-BASED REPORTS:

Clough, M and G.C. Yencho.  2019.  North Carolina Potato Variety Trial and Breeding Report 2019 (https://potatoes.ncsu.edu/pdf/NC19POTRPT.pdf)

Clough, M and G.C. Yencho.  2019.  North Carolina NE1731 2019 report (https://potatoes.ncsu.edu/NE1014reports/NorthCarolina19.pdf)

Kleinhenz, M.D., “Lab to Field to Basket: Potato Research and Extension to Strengthen the “Chip Business.” Vegnet Newsletter - Vegetable and Fruit Crop News. Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Aug. 17, 2019. http://u.osu.edu/vegnetnews/2019/08/17/lab-to-field-to-basket-potato-research-and-extension-to-strengthen-the-chip-business/

Kleinhenz, M.D., “Harvests of Data Hopefully Increase Harvests of Money.” Vegnet Newsletter - Vegetable and Fruit Crop News. Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Aug. 24, 2019. http://u.osu.edu/vegnetnews/2019/08/24/harvests-of-data-hopefully-increase-harvests-of-money/

Qu, X.S.  2018.  Pennsylvania Potato Research Report, 2018 (https://plantpath.psu.edu/research/areas/plant-disease-management/penn-state-potato-research-program/pennsylvania-potato-research-reports/pennsylvania-potato-research-report-2018)

NEWSPAPER, READIO, TELEVISION MEDIA ARTICLES (INCLUDE DATES):

Porter, G.A. 2019.  Survival of the Fittest Tuber.  Written by Jeffrey B. Roth following field site visit and interview with Greg Porter, University of Maine.   October 2019, Lancaster Farming.  Published in print and also on-line at https://www.lancasterfarming.com/news/northern_edition/survival-of-the-fittest-tuber/article_10b4c404-b6e6-591e-8811-674c4fc10d0d.html           

Porter, G.A. 2019.  WAGM-TV, Presque Isle, ME. Appeared on “Potato Picker’s Special” and was interviewed by Robert Grimm and Shawn Cunningham, October 1, 2019.  “Potato breeding and variety development.”