DisplayTitle

In the past decade, <i>Potato virus Y</i> (PVY) has re-emerged as a significant disease affecting seed potato production and is threatening to become a tuber quality issue. The resurgence of PVY is due, in part, to widespread acceptance of potato varieties that express mild or no foliar PVY symptoms, to displacement of the ordinary PVY strain by recombinant strains that often induce mild foliar symptoms and tuber necrosis, and to increased late season spread of the virus due to changes in aphid populations. These late season infections often are not manifested in foliar symptoms, but result in infected tubers. Each of these changes hampers the detection and removal of PVY-infected plants during field inspections and rouging operations, and leads to more virus being present in seed stocks. A national PVY project, outlined in this talk, has partnered with seed certification and regulatory agencies, and grower organizations across the U.S. to address the needs of the potato industry. Our immediate goal is to work with seed certification agencies to reduce the level of virus in seed stocks below economic thresholds and to eliminate seed lots harboring the tuber necrotic strain. The longer term goals are to improve on-farm Best Management Plans to reduce the impacts of PVY on farm profitability and product quality. Project outcomes are translated to stakeholders via www.potatovirus.com that includes an open discussion forum on any aspect of PVY or other potato virus diseases.<p><p>Keywords: