Project Number: 1275-21000-190-15
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Aug 17, 2007
End Date: May 30, 2009

Objective:
To evaluate potato varieties and advanced selections from State and Federal potato breeding programs to late blight and to determine the stability of each variety/selection for resistance/susceptibility to late blight across diverse environments when exposed to varying isolates of Phytophthora infestans.

Approach:
Advanced breeding selections and newly released potato varieties from State and Federal potato breeding programs will be entered into these National Late Blight Germplasm Evaluation Trials. These, along with known late blight differentials and standard check varieties, will be grown in replicated trials at several locations and evaluated for disease reaction at weekly intervals following either the first occurrence of late blight or inoculation with Phytophthora infestans. Area under the disease progress curve will be calculated and analyzed. Trials are conducted at several locations to maximize exposure to different growing environments and possible variations in the pathogen population. This allows the data to be subjected to stability analysis.