Potatoes in Canada

News Crop Watch Diseases
Canada invests in PED research, CanPEDNet continues

Federal funding announced for PED research pre-COVID-19 still makes an impact as research continues.

May 26, 2020  By Potatoes in Canada


In early March, Marie-Claude Bibeau, minister of agriculture and agri-food, announced a federal investment of more than $2.3 million to support the Canadian Horticultural Council’s research into managing the Potato Early Dying (PED) disease. The horticulture sector contributed an additional $991,918 towards this research, for a total investment of over $3.3 million.

The Canadian Potato Early Die Network (CanPEDNet) is a Canada-wide network of projects working on PED with growers across the country. The purpose of the project is to provide potato growers with the knowledge, tools and technologies they need to manage Potato Early Dying, which results in premature aging, limiting potato yield by as much as 50 per cent. The disease, on average, limits yield potential in the range of 15 to 30 per cent. As part of the project, the Canadian Horticulture Council will survey potato fields to determine the levels of PED and evaluate the control of PED through growers’ cropping systems, best management practices and control products.

At the time of the announcement in early March, Brian Gilroy, president Canadian Horticultural Council, described the funding as an important support for the Canadian potato industry.

Advertisement

Thomas McDade, agricultural director for the Potato Growers of Alberta (PGA), provided an update on PED research in the March 2020 update. For the current research program, Mario Tenuta with the University of Manitoba will be collaborating with Dmytro Yevtushenko, University of Lethbridge’s potato research chair.

As part of the CanPEDNet, McDade explained, Dmytro and a number of students were out this last fall, collecting soil samples from a representative sample of fields that are earmarked for potatoes next year. In total, there were 32 fields from which soil samples were obtained from across the potato growing region in southern Alberta.

There were two things that the soil samples were tested for: Verticillium and root lesion nematode levels. The levels of Verticillium dahlia were assessed by the Agricultural Certification Services Lab, in Fredericton and of the 32 soil samples submitted, virtually all were found to have very low levels of Verticillium microsclerotia present. Most of these soil samples were found to have 12 microsclerotia propagules per gram of soil, and in most cases much lower.

Overall, McDade explained, this is an excellent result as the economic threshold for Verticillium Dahlia, per gram of soil, is in the eight to 12 range. The soil samples were also analyzed for nematodes by the P.E.I. Potato Quality Institute in Charlottetown. Yevtushenko at the University of Lethbridge is currently analyzing these results.


Print this page

Advertisement

Stories continue below