Source: UNIVERSITY OF MAINE submitted to NRP
POTATO BREEDING AND VARIETY DEVELOPMENT FOR IMPROVED QUALITY AND PEST RESISTANCE IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
SPECIAL GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1003650
Grant No.
2014-34141-22266
Cumulative Award Amt.
$282,330.00
Proposal No.
2014-05915
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2014
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2016
Grant Year
2014
Program Code
[AN]- Potato Research
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE
(N/A)
ORONO,ME 04469
Performing Department
School of Food & Agriculture
Non Technical Summary
The overall goal of the project is to develop an array of attractive, highly productive, disease- and insect-resistant potato varieties that can be employed by small and large potato producers to enhance marketing opportunities, farm sustainability and grower profits. The eastern U.S. potato industry needs new potato varieties to enhance marketing opportunities. New potato varieites are also needed to overcome pest problems while reducing agricultural chemical use and to provide resistance to climatic stresses, such as increasing temperatures. This project will conduct classical potato breeding and selection studies to improve potato productivity and quality for important Eastern U.S. markets. Improved potato varieties and breeding materials will be developed to reduce the impact of economically important potato pests,golden nematode,late blight, scab, and potato virus y. The project also includes development and use of marker-assisted selection techniques to speed the development of resistance to internal defects, diseases, and insect pests. Project results are delivered to the grower community, industry, and consumers via field days, printed materials, presentations at extension and other meetings, as well as via our project web site. Growers and processors are introduced to candidate potato varieties via the previously mentioned methods and through commercial demonstration trials conducted on growers farms.
Animal Health Component
85%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
5%
Applied
85%
Developmental
10%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
2021310108170%
2021310108010%
2111310108110%
2121310108110%
Knowledge Area
212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants; 211 - Insects, Mites, and Other Arthropods Affecting Plants; 202 - Plant Genetic Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
1310 - Potato;

Field Of Science
1081 - Breeding; 1080 - Genetics;
Goals / Objectives
Thisoverall project goal is to develop an array of high yielding, disease- and insect- resistant, and stress tolerant table-stock, processing and/or specialty-type potato varieties. Our research will enable farmers in the eastern US to produce and market a wide range of potato varieties and value-added products using environmentally sustainable and economically profitable production practices. Our project is a highly collaborative effort involving eight states, four potato breeding programs, and numerous stake-holders. The specific objectives are to: 1) Improve potato productivity and quality for important eastern U.S. markets by developing and releasing superior potato varieties using conventional and marker-assisted potato breeding methods; 2)Reduce the impact of economically important biotic and abiotic potato production constraints in the eastern U.S. by breeding and developing improved potato germplasm and varieties; 3)Select widely-adapted potato varieties by screening yield, quality, and pest resistance traits at multiple eastern locations; 4) Facilitate commercial adoption of improved new varieties by coordinating initial commercial trials and by developing management recommendations; and 5) Enhance the availability and use of project-related, research-based information and improved potato germplasm through the use of digital media.
Project Methods
This is an integrated, eight-state (Florida, Maine, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia) potato breeding and variety development project for the eastern U.S. Potato breeding takes place in four states with each program filling specific specialty areas. Collaborative multi-site selection, evaluation, and variety development work is conducted among all states and with the USDA-ARS-BARC potato breeding program. The overall goal of the project is to develop an array of attractive, highly productive, disease- and insect-resistant potato varieties that can be employed by small and large potato producers to enhance marketing opportunities, farm sustainability and grower profits. The specific objectives of this integrated, multi-disciplinary project are to: 1) Improve potato productivity and quality for important eastern U.S. markets by developing and releasing superior potato varieties using conventional and marker-assisted potato breeding methods; 2) Reduce the impact of economically important biotic and abiotic potato production constraints in the eastern U.S. by breeding and developing improved potato germplasm and varieties; 3) Select widely-adapted potato varieties by screening yield, quality, and pest resistance traits at multiple eastern locations; 4) Facilitate commercial adoption of improved new varieties by coordinating initial commercial trials and by developing management recommendations; and 5) Enhance the availability and use of project-related, research-based information and improved potato germplasm, especially through the use of digital media. Development of varieties with durable, multiple resistances to important diseases such as late blight, scab, potato virus y, verticillium wilt, early blight, and golden nematode, as well as insect resistance are long-term priorities. The project focuses on classical breeding techniques, but also includes development and use of marker-assisted selection for resistance to internal defects, diseases, and insect pests. Our selection procedures utilize the diverse growing conditions present in the eastern U.S. to select potato germplasm with resistance to pests, heat stress, and stress-related defects. The project provides a coordinated, team approach for helping to solve current and future problems encountered by the U.S. potato industry.

Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Potato growers, potato processors, home gardeners, and consumers of potatoes and potato products. Research results are delivered in written reports, popular press, web sites, and presentations at grower meetings. Variety development involves applied research which is conducted on University research station farms, commercial farms, and by home gardeners. Some of the new potato varieties go directly to consumers via supermarkets, farmers' markets, and roadside stands, while others are utilized by potato chip and/or french fry processors. The resulting processed products are purchased by consumers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Ph D graduate student Kristen Brown is learning research skills under this project with the goal of eventually becoming a lead scientist. She is planning research and learning new research skills. She will present her research at scientific meetings and will publish her research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results from this project have been made available through field days, trade show booths, printed materials, and presentations (scientific meetings and stakeholder meetings). Results from the project are also made available through our project web site at http://potatoes.ncsu.edu/NE.html. Eastern potato production represents hundreds of farms and more than $460 million cash farm receipts; therefore, the impact of a successful new potato variety can mean many millions of dollars to the industry. Consumers also benefit from the high quality, local food production resulting from new potato variety adoption. Disease resistant varieties generated by this project have the potential to greatly reduce growers' losses to devastating diseases such as pink rot and/or late blight. Adoption of late blight resistant varieties would reduce the number of fungicide applications needed to grow a potato crop and/or reduce the risk of late blight infection and spread. Golden nematode, a serious pest found in NY and other countries, cannot be effectively managed without the resistant potato varieties generated by this and other potato breeding projects. The eastern potato breeding and selection effort produces new varieties and evaluates their potential to serve fresh, processing, and specialty markets in the East. Recent eastern variety releases and their year of release include: Red Maria (NY129, 2010); Lamoka (NY139, 2011, chipping); Waneta (NY138, 2011, chipping and fresh); Elkton (B1992-106, 2012, chipping); Sebec (AF0338-17, 2014, chipping and fresh); Easton (AF3001-6, 2014, French fry processing); and Caribou Russet (AF3362-1, 2015, fry processing and fresh). These varieties and other promising clones from the project continue to be evaluated and adopted by the potato industry. Adoption and seed multiplication take considerable time in the potato industry, so impacts occur over a long time period. Recent eastern releases (those listed above plus Beacon Chipper, Marcy, Harley Blackwell, Lehigh, and others) were grown on 2382 ME and NY seed acres during 2016 with a potential seed value of $7.2M. The resulting seed crop has the potential to plant 23823 acres in 2017 with a ware value estimated at $71.5M. Nationally, varieties produced by our long-term project were grown on 4793 seed acres with an approximate seed value of $14.4M. Several varieties developed through our collective efforts are in the top 100 varieties in the U.S. including (acres, rank): Lamoka (2367, 10), Waneta (713, 29), Pike (359, 50), Lehigh (260, 57), Reba (170, 66), Caribou Russet (143, 71), Keuka Gold (106, 79), Eva (95, 83), Andover (74, 98). This excellent rate of adoption will grow over time as the industry builds seed supplies. There is particularly strong grower interest in improved new chipping varieties to meet quality requirements of eastern processing plants. Harley Blackwell and Sebec (AF0338-17) fit this need in NC and other southeastern states where internal defects reduce the quality of the current standard chipping variety, Atlantic. Lamoka and Waneta are new chipping varieties that are being rapidly adopted by the industry for use from storage. Easton (AF3001-6), Caribou Russet (AF3362-1), and AF4296-3 have potential as improved fry processing varieties. Specialty varieties, Adirondack Blue, Adirondack Red, Lehigh, Peter Wilcox. Strawberry Paw, AF4659-12 and NY150 are being adopted by small-scale fresh market growers because of their appearance, yellow, blue, or red flesh color, and excellent culinary quality. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This project breeds, selects and develops new potato varieties that will be beneficial to potato producers in the eastern U.S. Crosses between parents with desirable traits take place at ME, NY, NC, and USDA Beltsville, MD. Field sites in ME, NY, PA, OH, VA, NC, and FL are used to test the breeding materials for yield and quality traits over a wide range of growing conditions. The yield and tuber quality evaluations begun under this project during 2014 were completed during 2016. The results included measurement of internal tuber defects, cooking quality, chip and french fry quality, tuber glycoalkaloid levels, tuber dormancy in storage, and resistance to fusarium dry rot. The most promising clones from 2015 were advanced for continued testing in 2016, while those which were judged to have significant weaknesses were dropped from testing. Seedstocks of the clones retained for 2016 testing were distributed to trial sites in ME, NY, PA, OH, MD, VA, NC, FL, as well as other US states and Canadian provinces. Six eastern clones (AF4648-2, AF5040-8, B2727-2, NC0349-2, NY152, NY157) were entered into the 2015 and 2016 US Potato Board chipping trials. Four (AF4648-2, AF5040-8, NY152, and NY157) have demonstrated good commercial potential. Seed multiplication of the most promising clones identified during the 2015 growing season resulted in commercial-scale trials during 2016. From the ME program, there were seven advanced clones entered into commercial evaluations during 2016. Sebec (AF0338-17), released in 2014 as a round-white that is widely adapted to eastern growing conditions and produces excellent chips from the field, continues to tested commercially and seed production is expanding. Caribou Russet (AF3362-1), a high yielding, fresh market and fry processing clone, was released during 2015 and was in extensive fry processing and fresh market trials during 2016. AF4296-3, a processing russet with outstanding french fry quality, is being evaluated across the U.S.. AF4648-2 has potential for chipping and fresh market use and has resistance to scab, PVY, and golden nematode. AF4659-12, a specialty, fingerling-type yellow-fleshed clone, is being quickly adopted by small-scale growers and gardeners. AF4157-6 is early maturing and has excellent chip color. AF4138-8 is being evaluated for the round-white fresh market. Additional commercial trials were conducted in the other participating states. The most promising clones have been entered into disease-free tissue culture and commercial seedstocks are being multiplied and made available to seed potato growers in ME and elsewhere.

Publications

  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Ocaya, P., K. Gause, and G.A. Porter. 2016. Nitrogen rate response of Russet Burbank and four new fry processing varieties. Amer. J. Potato Res. 138(abst).
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Porter, G.A., P. Ocaya, and T. Mills. 2016. Easton: a new potato variety for fry processing that has excellent fried-product color and resistance to hollow heart and Verticillium wilt. Amer. J. Potato Res. 93:139-140 (abst).
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Porter, G.A., P. Ocaya, and T. Mills. 2016. Sebec: a new, widely-adapted potato variety that is suitable for chipping directly from the field as well as fresh market use and has resistance to internal heat necrosis, hollow heart, and net necrosis. Amer. J. Potato Res. 93:139 (abst).
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Thompson, A.L., D. Douches, J.B. Endelman, P.C. Bethke, K. Haynes, D.G. Holm, W. DeJong, J.C. Miller, R.G. Novy, G.Porter, V.R. Sathuvalli, and G.C. Yencho. 2016. Successes in traditional potato breeding programs. Amer. J. Potato Res. 93:144 (abst).
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Porter, G.A., P. Ocaya, B. MacFarline, and B. Plummer. 2016. Potato variety trial results in Maine, 2016 growing season. SFA Research Report (posted on www and distributed to industry), 2016-01, 44 pp.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Porter, G.A., P. Ocaya, and T. Mills. 2016. Maine potato breeding program annual report, 2016 growing season. SFA Research Report (posted on www and distributed to industry), 22 pp.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: De Jong, W.S., D.E. Halseth, R.L. Plaisted, X. Wang, K.L. Perry, K.M. Paddock, M. Falise, B.J. Christ, and G.A. Porter. 2016. Lamoka, a variety with excellent chip color out of cold storage and resistance to the golden cyst nematode. American Journal of Potato Research DOI 10.1007/s12230-016-9557-x.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2016 Citation: Endelman, J, C.A. Schmitz Carley, D.S. Douches, J.J. Coombs, B. Bizimungu, W.S. de Jong, K.G. Haynes, D.G. Holm, C. Miller, R.G. Novy, J. Palta, D.L. Parish, G.Porter, V. Sathuvalli, A. Thompson, and C. Yencho. 201_. Pedigree reconstruction with genome-wide markers in potato. Amer. J. Potato Res. (In review).
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Brown, K.M., P. Ocaya, T. Mills and G.A. Porter. 2016. Field screening of potato clones for late blight susceptibility. Amer. J. Potato Res. 93:124 (abst).


Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/15

Outputs
Target Audience:Potato growers, potato processors, home gardeners, and consumers of potatoes and potato products. Research results are delivered in written reports, popular press, web sites, and presentations at grower meetings. Variety development involves applied research which is conducted on University research station farms, commercial farms, and by home gardeners. Some of the new potato varieties go directly to consumers via supermarkets, farmers' markets, and roadside stands, while others are utilized by potato chip and/or french fry processors. The resulting processed products are purchased by consumers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Eastern potato production represents hundreds of farms and more than $460 million cash farm receipts; therefore, the impact of a successful new potato variety can mean many millions of dollars to the industry. Consumers also benefit from the high quality, local food production resulting from new potato variety adoption. Disease resistant varieties generated by this project have the potential to greatly reduce growers' losses to devastating diseases such as pink rot and/or late blight. Adoption of late blight resistant varieties would reduce the number of fungicide applications needed to grow a potato crop and/or reduce the risk of late blight infection and spread. Golden nematode, a serious pest found in NY and other countries, cannot be effectively managed without the resistant potato varieties generated by this and other potato breeding projects. The eastern potato breeding and selection effort produces new varieties and evaluates their potential to serve fresh, processing, and specialty markets in the East. Recent eastern variety releases and their year of release include: Red Maria (NY129, 2010); Lamoka (NY139, 2011, chipping); Waneta (NY138, 2011, chipping and fresh); Elkton (B1992-106, 2012, chipping); Sebec (AF0338-17, 2014, chipping and fresh); Easton (AF3001-6, 2014, French fry processing); and Caribou Russet (AF3362-1, 2015, fry processing and fresh). These varieties and other promising clones from the project continue to be evaluated and adopted by the potato industry. Adoption and seed multiplication take considerable time in the potato industry, so impacts occur over a long time period. Recent eastern releases since 2002 (those listed above plus Beacon Chipper, Marcy, Harley Blackwell, Lehigh, and others) were grown on 1312 ME and NY seed acres during 2015 with a potential seed value of $3.9M. The resulting seed crop has the potential to plant 13122 acres in 2016 with a ware value estimated at $39.4M. Over a longer time frame, 39 of the ~140 varieties listed in the ME and NY certified seed directories were released by the Eastern programs since 1990. These releases represent 2251 seed acres with a potential seed value of $6.8M. This seed crop had the potential to plant 22,513 acres in 2016 with a projected value of $67.5M. This excellent rate of adoption will grow over time as the industry builds seed supplies. There is particularly strong grower interest in improved new chipping varieties to meet quality requirements of eastern processing plants. Harley Blackwell, Elkton, and Sebec (AF0338-17) fit this need in NC and other southeastern states where internal defects reduce the quality of the current standard chipping variety, Atlantic. Lamoka and Waneta are new chipping varieties that are being rapidly adopted by the industry. Easton (AF3001-6), AF3362-1, and AF4296-3 have potential as improved fry processing varieties. Specialty varieties, Adirondack Blue, Adirondack Red, Lehigh, Peter Wilcox and AF4659-12, are being adopted by small-scale fresh market growers because of their yellow, blue, or red flesh color and excellent culinary quality. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to continue our potato breeding and variety development efforts along similar lines, including commercial trials of the most advanced potato clones from the project. We will continue to work with constituents ranging from individual growers to state grower groups and processors to improve the effectiveness of the project. We will continue to update and improve the project database and website.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Potato breeding for improved quality and pest resistance was conducted at ME, NY, NC, and USDA-ARS Beltsville, MD during 2015. 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 emphasized research on late blight, potato virus Y (PVY), and scab resistance. Marker-assisted selection is now used to speed selection for PVY resistance. Each program uses diverse potato germplasm as parents for crosses that result in improved plant material for selection and commercialization. In ME, greenhouse crosses resulted in 210,000 true potato seeds representing 425 families. Seedling tubers (49,828) from prior ME crosses and from germplasm exchanges with other breeding programs (WI, CO, VA, USDA-ARS, and ND) were planted in the field with 1100 (2.2%) selected for continued evaluation in 2016. All third-year clones were sent to NC to screen for heat tolerance. All whites and reds from the 3rd-year material are also screened in FL to provide additional information on tolerance to diverse environments. ME conducts most of its own pest resistance screening; however, PA provides a centralized site for screening late blight, early blight, and powdery scab resistance. Forty (of 280) third-year and 38 (of 127) advanced clones from the ME program had late blight resistance in 2015 tests. Of the advanced late blight resistant clones, AF4648-2 is closest to release and continued to be evaluated for chipping and fresh market use in 2015. One advanced clone showed immunity to PVY during 2015, while additional clones had good field resistance. Sixty-seven of 177 selections had scab resistance in our 2015 screening trial. USDA-ARS in NY provides golden nematode screening for the eastern programs and 20 of 50 ME clones showed resistance during 2015. Potato variety trials were conducted at three ME locations during 2014 [Presque Isle, 49 entries; St Agatha, 82 entries; and Exeter, 34 entries]. The numbers of promising clones identified by market category were: chipping (6), fresh market whites (4), russet and long-whites (12), reds and specialty (6). Fifty-one advanced clones (5th year and older) from the ME program were retained for 2015 testing. This group consists of 16 whites and chippers, 26 russets and longs, 9 reds and specialty clones. The most advanced clones continued commercial evaluations during 2015. Recent releases are Sebec (AF0338-17), Easton (AF3001-6), and Caribou Russet (AF3362-1). Sebec is a round-white that is widely adapted to eastern growing conditions and produces excellent chips from the field. Easton is a high yielding, verticillium wilt resistant, french fry processing clone. Caribou Russet is a high yielding russet that is expected to be useful for fresh market and fry processing. To facilitate the adoption process, ME coordinated 22 commercial-scale trials representing 8 new potato varieties (3 chippers, 1 round-white, 3 russets, and 1 specialty types) and 102 acres during 2015. Additional commercial trials were conducted in the other participating states. Potato clones in these commercial tests came from ME, NY, ND, and USDA-ARS.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Wang, Y., P.C. Bethke, A.J. Bussan, M.T. Glynn, D.G. Holm, F.M. Navarro, R.G. Novy, J.P. Palta, M.J. Pavek, G.A. Porter, V.R. Sathuvalli, A.L. Thompson, P.J. Vogelwede, J.L. Whitworth, D.I. Parish, and J.B. Endelman. 2015. Acrylamide-forming potential and agronomic properties of elite US potato germplasm from the national fry processing trial. Crop Sci. 56:1-10.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Haynes, K.G., G.C. Yencho, M.E. Clough, M.R. Henninger,X.S. Qu, B.J. Christ, M.W. Peck, G.A. Porter, C.M. Hutchinson. D.M. Gergela, D.E. Halseth, S.R. Menasha, J.B. Sieczka. 2015. Peter Wilcox: A new purple-skin, yellow-fleshed fresh market potato cultivar with moderate resistance to powdery scab. Amer. J. Potato Res. 92:573-581.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Porter, G.A., P. Ocaya, B. MacFarline, and B. Plummer. 2015. Potato variety trial results in Maine, 2015 growing season. SFA Research Report (posted on www and distributed to industry), 2015-01, 42 pp.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Porter, G.A., P. Ocaya, and T. Mills. 2015. Maine potato breeding program annual report, 2015 growing season. SFA Research Report (posted on www and distributed to industry), 20 pp.