Source: NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV submitted to
DEVELOPMENT OF ADAPTED POTATO VARIETIES FOR THE MID-ATLANTIC AND SOUTHEASTERN US
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1004952
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
NC02547
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Nov 12, 2014
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2019
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Yencho, GE.
Recipient Organization
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV
(N/A)
RALEIGH,NC 27695
Performing Department
Horticultural Science
Non Technical Summary
Potatoes are an important component of North Carolina's crop production system. During 2007-2012, potatoes accounted for roughly $102 million in farm-gate revenue, ranking 2nd for vegetables after sweetpotatoes. We are the nation's 3rd largest producer of spring potatoes averaging 16,000 acres per year and our growers fill an important niche in the eastern US potato production/ chip processing system. New varieties are one of the highest priorities for growers. 'Atlantic', the predominant chipping variety grown in NC was bred and selected in Maine. While it is a good variety for northern growers, in the mid-Atlantic and southern regions it suffers from internal heat necrosis (IHN), an internal tuber defect that occurs due to high temperatures. Severe IHN in a shipment of potatoes can result in an entire load of potatoes being rejected by processors, which occur yearly in NC. Therefore, there is great need to develop improved varieties free of IHN for the mid-Atlantic and southeastern US. Another concern of the industry is the need for high value specialty potatoes for production by small-scale growers who are primarily concerned with direct marketing their fresh market table stock potatoes.The primary goal of the NC State University potato breeding project is to identify new potato varieties for use in the mid-Atlantic and SE US. We use a multifaceted approach to develop new varieties because we have limited resources. As a USDA-NIFA NE1231 Regional Potato Variety Development Project member, we evaluate all advanced lines from potato breeding programs located in the NE US. Most major varieties, including Atlantic the dominant chipping variety in the, have passed through this system. This variety, which occupies ~50% of NC's acreage, generated over $22 million in NC farm-gate receipts during 2012. We have also developed early-generation selection projects with the USDA-ARS, Cornell University and the Univ. of Maine and we are a key player in collaborative early-generation potato selection trials supported by the US Potato Board (USPB) and the US Snack Food Association. This National Chip Processors Trial (NCPT) trialing system and is national in scope and the program is designed to identify and commercialize as rapidly as possible new potato varieties.To provide information on the potato varieties evaluated and/or developed by the program we have developed three online potato databases, which are on our project website at http://potatoes.ncsu.edu/. The NCSU Potato Database is populated with data collected on all lines trialed by our program since 1995. The NE1231 Potato Variety Development Project Database is a regional database with agronomic data from eight eastern US states and three Canadian provinces. While the NCPT Database contains all the data collected from at the 11 chip trial locations in the US. Each of these databases was created using an interface that allows users to dynamically generate one-page summaries of varieties in a printer friendly format. This web-resource is becoming increasingly popular, and is often used by potato growers seeking timely information on varieties.Through our collaborations with the potato breeding and seed production programs located throughout the US, we are developing new varieties better suited to our production conditions. Indeed, NC is recognized by our industry and scientific collaborators as a key site for the evaluation of potatoes in the southern US. Continued efforts to develop new potato clones will contribute to the development of a more economically and ecologically sustainable potato production system in the mid-Atlantic and SE US.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
80%
Developmental
10%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
2011310108040%
2021310108020%
2031310108020%
2041310108120%
Knowledge Area
204 - Plant Product Quality and Utility (Preharvest); 203 - Plant Biological Efficiency and Abiotic Stresses Affecting Plants; 201 - Plant Genome, Genetics, and Genetic Mechanisms; 202 - Plant Genetic Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
1310 - Potato;

Field Of Science
1081 - Breeding; 1080 - Genetics;
Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of the NC potato breeding project is to develop conventional and specialty-type table-stock and chip-stock processing potato cultivars that are better adapted to the spring and summer growing conditions of the M-A and SE US. Selected clones will have improved yield and culinary and/or processing qualities, and better tolerance to the high temperatures and diseases commonly experienced by potatoes in these regions.The specific objectives of this five-year project are to: 1) continue collaborative breeding projects with the USDA-ARS Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), the University of Maine and the Cornell University potato breeding programs to select and develop new potato varieties with broad adaptation to the eastern US; 2) continue screening efforts focused on evaluating advanced clones from the Cornell, USDA/ARS/BARC, University Of Maine, Michigan State University, and North Dakota State University potato breeding programs for utility in NC and the SE US; and 3) conduct germplasm enhancement and molecular marker studies focused on developing high yielding, high specific gravity potatoes free of IHN.Successful completion of these project goals will: 1) assist breeders in designing regional breeding and selection strategies to more efficiently develop cultivars for wide geographic areas; 2) broaden the germplasm pool of high specific gravity clones available for commercial production in the US; 3) foster increased communication and interaction among potato scientists located in the mid-Atlantic, SE and the NE-1231 Regional Potato Variety Development and Evaluation project; and 4) contribute to the development of a more economically sustainable potato production system in the mid-Atlantic and SE.
Project Methods
We will use a combination of traditional, biochemical, and genomics-based breeding techniques as necessary and feasible to facilitate our breeding efforts. We also interact with a wide variety of public and private, and national and international collaborators to achieve our goals.

Progress 11/12/14 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audiences are very broad - ranging from growers and industry personnel seeking highly applied information on new varieties and timely crop production information to multidisciplinary scientists interested in potato genomics. We adjust our communication strategies appropriately to meet the needs of each target audience and we regularly attend extension-oriented and scientific meetings to disseminate timely information nationally and internationally. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In addition to training MS and PhD level graduate students and postdoctoral scientists, this project typically hired 2-4 undergraduate summer helpers to assist with project activities during project year. This work provides significant real-world plant breeding experiences for the undergraduate and graduate students employed by the project. As part of our project we are also engaged in a number of on-farm extention related training activities during the life of this project. Specifically, we: 1) conducted at least three on-farm potato trials with extension agents yearly; and 2) provided breeding program demonstrations and presented talks of the potato breeding program's activities at the Annual Potato Field Day held in conjunction with the NCPA and Potato EXPO Annual Meetings. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We routinely participated in field days and extension meetings at various venues in NC and the region. We also attended and made presentations at state, regional and national and international meetings. We also hosted numerous industry meetings through-out the year to discuss various special projects related to the potato industry. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The primary goal of the NC State potato breeding project is to identify new potato varieties for use in the mid-Atlantic and SE US. We use a highly collaborative approach to develop new varieties because we have limited resources. As a USDA-NIFA NE1231 Regional Potato Variety Development Project member and a USDA-NIFA Potato Special Research Grants project member, the NC State program made crosses and shared seedling tubers with other programs. We also evaluated advanced lines from potato breeding programs located in the NE US. Most major varieties, including Atlantic, which occupies ca. 50 percent of NC's acreage and generated over $22 million in NC farm-gate receipts during 2012, have passed through this system. For this project, we collaborated in early-generation selection projects with the USDA-ARS, Cornell University and the Univ. of Maine and we were a key site in collaborative early-generation potato selection trials supported by the US Potato Board (USPB) and the US Snack Food Association. The National Chip Processors Trial (NCPT) trialing system and is national in scope and the program is designed to identify and commercialize as rapidly as possible new potato varieties. To provide information on the potato varieties evaluated and/or developed by the program we developed three online potato databases, which are on our project website at http://potatoes.ncsu.edu/. The NCSU Potato Database is populated with data collected on all lines trialed by our program since 1995. TheNE1231 Potato Variety Development Project Database is a regional database with agronomic data from eight eastern US states and threeCanadian provinces. While the NCPT Database contains all the data collected from at the 11 chip trial locations in the US. Each ofthese databases was created using an interface that allows users to dynamically generate one-page summaries of varieties in a printer friendly format. This web-resource has become popular, and is often used by potato growers seeking timely information on varieties. Through our collaborations with the potato breeding and seed production programs located throughout the US, collaborated to develop new varieties better suited to our production conditions. Indeed, NC is ecognized by our industry and scientific collaborators as a key site for the evaluation of potatoes in the southern US. Our group has been working on developing IHN resistant potato germplasm for many years. To date we have established repeatable field methods and IHN rating scales to effectively screen for this trait and developed several breeding populations to study the genetics of IHN resistance. Germplasm from the four breeding programs have been screened for IHN resistance in FL, VA, MD, NC, OH, PA and NY routinely. We are also working to identify molecular markers linked to IHN resistance to facilitate variety development. McCord et al. (2011a,b) dentified amplified fragment length (AFLP) molecular markers linked to IHN and other traits such as foliar maturity, tuber skin texture, dry matter content, specific gravity, and yield in two distinct potato populations, B2721 and NC206. In B2721, a population of 240 clones derived from a cross between Atlantic and B1829-5, we detected AFLP markers linked to genes or quantitative trait loci (QTL) for increased resistance to IHN on four chromosomes in 'Atlantic', and one chromosome of B1829-5. Over a three-year period, the QTL explained between 4.5 - 29.4% of the IHN variation for mean severity, and from 3.7 - 14.5% of the variation for percent incidence of IHN. These QTL were dominant and associated with decreased IHN. This was the first time that molecular markers had been detected for IHN resistance in potato. However, the number of markers used to make the genetic maps proved inadequate for use as a breeding tool. With over 8,000 loci, the Illumina SNP Potato Beadchip developed by the USDA NIFA SolCAP potato genomics project provided an ideal genotyping platform to study IHN and develop SNP molecular markers for IHN resistance. Using SolCAP genotyping support, NC added SNP QTL mapping to the IHN project.

Publications


    Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Our target audiences are very broad - ranging from growers and industry personnel seeking highly applied information on new varieties and timely crop production information to multidisciplinary scientists interested in potato genomics and the production of value-added products from potato such as chips and French fries. We adjust our communication strategies appropriately to meet the needs of each target audience and we regularly attend extension-oriented and scientific meetings to disseminate timely information nationally and internationally. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In addition to training MS and PhD level graduate students, this project typically hires 2-3 undergraduate summer helpers to assist with project activities during project year. This work provides significant real-world plant breeding experiences for the undergraduate and graduate students employed by the project. As part of our project we are also engaged in a number of on-farm extention related training activities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our target audiences are very broad ranging from growers and industry personnel seeking highly applied information on new varieties and timely crop production information to multidisciplinary scientists interested in potato genomics. We adjust our communication strategies appropriately to meet the needs of each target audience and we regularly attend extension based and scientific meetings to disseminate timely information nationally and internationally. During 2017 we: 1) conducted three on-farm potato trials with extension agents in Pasquotank and Tyrrell Counties; we are one of the lead PI's in the US Potato Board's National Chip Processor's Trialing Network an 11 state potato variety development effort supported by the USPB and the US Snack Food Association; 3) we attended the Potato EXPO - 2017 where we hosted a potato promotion booth for North Carolina potatoes and the NCSU potato breeding program; and 4) we hosted several Potato Tours and demonstrations of potato breeding to Northeast Regional School for Biotechnology and Agriculture High School. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Our project activities will continue as they have in the past. We do not anticipate any major changes.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Under the NE-1731 Regional Potato Variety Development Project we evaluated >250 preliminary and advanced clones in on-farm and research station trials. IMPACT: The goal of this project is to identify new potato varieties for use in the mid-Atlantic and SE US. Most major varieties, including Atlantic the dominant chipping variety in the US, have passed through this system. We estimate that these varieties, which occupy ~50% of NC's acreage, generated over $39.6 million in NC farm-gate receipts during 2017. We conducted collaborative early-generation potato selection trials for the Potatoes USA and SNAC International National Chip Processors Trial (NCPT) network. IMPACT: The NCPT trialing system and database is national in scope and the program is designed to identify and commercialize as rapidly as possible new potato varieties. It has significant grower support and NC State is a key cooperator. We conducted the 2nd year of the Early Generation Southern Selection (EGSS) project designed to rapidly identify and develop new chip-stock varieties adapted to the southern US in collaboration with the NCPT effort. IMPACT: The EGSS project is designed to identify and commercialize as rapidly as possible new potato varieties for the southern US. It has significant grower support and NCSU is a key member of this project. We planted 14,419 single-hills and selected 562 clones resulting in a 3.9% selection rate. Out of the 740 clones in our 6-hill and 12-hill plots, 158 (21%) were selected for future evaluation. In the 20-hill, specialty 60-hill plots, and 60-hill plots 337 clones were planted with 150 (45%) being selected for further evaluation. IMPACT: New varieties for the mid-Atlantic and SE US will contribute to a more sustainable and profitable potato industry. We continued to develop and expand our web-based databases for our program and the NE-1731 Regional Potato Variety Development Project. IMPACT: These databases provide web access to variety trialing data for growers, extension agents, and other industry members, and it has become a model variety trial database for the other regional potato projects in the US.

    Publications

    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Endelman J. B., C. A. Schmitz Carley, P. C. Bethke, J. J. Coombs, M. E. Clough, W. L. da Silva, W. S. De Jong, D. S. Douches, C. M. Frederick, K. G. Haynes, D. G. Holm, J. C. Miller, P. R. Mu�oz, F. M. Navarro, R. G. Novy, J. P. Palta, G. A. Porter, K. T. Rak, V. R. Sathuvalli, A. L. Thompson and G. C. Yencho. 2018. Genetic Variance Partitioning and Genome-Wide Prediction with Allele Dosage Information in Autotetraploid Potato. Genetics. 209. 77-87. Doi: 10.1534/genetics.118.300685
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: 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, G. C. Yencho, L. Zotarelli, and J. B. Endelman. 2018. Genetic Covariance of Environments in the Potato National Chip Processing Trial. Crop Sci. doi:10.2135/cropsci2018.05.0314
    • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: G. Craig Yencho and Mark E. Clough. 2018. NC Potato Variety Trial and Breeding Report - 2018, 50pp.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Massa, A.N, et al. 2018. Linkage analysis and QTL mapping in a tetraploid russet mapping population of potato. BMC Genetics (2018) 19:87.


    Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Our target audiences are very broad - ranging from growers and industry personnel seeking highly applied information on new varieties and timely crop production information to multidisciplinary scientists interested in potato genomics and the production of value-added products from potato such as chips and French fries. We adjust our communication strategies appropriately to meet the needs of each target audience and we regularly attend extension-oriented and scientific meetings to disseminate timely information nationally and internationally. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In addition to training MS and PhD level graduate students, this project typically hires 2-3 undergraduate summer helpers to assist with project activities during project year. This work provides significant real-world plant breeding experiences for the undergraduate and graduate students employed by the project. As part of our project we are also engaged in a number of on-farm extention related training activities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our target audiences are very broad ranging from growers and industry personnel seeking highly applied information on new varieties and timely crop production information to multidisciplinary scientists interested in potato genomics. We adjust our communication strategies appropriately to meet the needs of each target audience and we regularly attend extension based and scientific meetings to disseminate timely information nationally and internationally. During 2016 we: 1) conducted three on-farm potato trials with extension agents in Pasquotank and Tyrrell Counties; we are one of the lead PI's in the US Potato Board's National Chip Processor's Trialing Network an 11 state potato variety development effort supported by the USPB and the US Snack Food Association; 3) we attended the Potato EXPO - 2016 where we hosted a potato promotion booth for North Carolina potatoes and the NCSU potato breeding program; and 4) we hosted several numerous 4-H Agent Potato Tours and demonstrations of potato breeding to Northeast Regional School for Biotechnology and Agriculture High School. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Our project activities will continue as they have in the past. We do not anticipate any major changes.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? During 2017: 1. We cooperated with NE-1231 (=NE-1731) Regional Potato Variety Development Project evaluating 250 preliminary and advanced clones in on-farm and research station trials. IMPACT: The goal of this project is to identify new potato varieties for use in the mid-Atlantic and SE US. Most major varieties, including Atlantic the dominant chipping variety in the US, have passed through this system. We estimate that these varieties, which occupy ~50% of NC's acreage, generated over $36 million in NC farmgate receipts during 2013. 2. We conducted collaborative early-generation potato selection trials and continued to refine an on-line database for the Potatoes USA and SNAC International National Chip Processors Trial (NCPT) network. IMPACT: The NCPT trialing system and database is national in scope and the program is designed to identify and commercialize as rapidly as possible new potato varieties. It has significant grower support and NC State is a key cooperator. 3. We planted 14,506 single-hills and selected 406 clones resulting in a 2.8% selection rate. This is near our average selection rate of 2.5%. Out of the 1362 clones in our 6-hill and 12-hill plots, 286 (21%) were selected for future evaluation. In the 20-hill, specialty 60-hill plots, and 60-hill plots 202 clones were planted with 83 (41%) being selected for further evaluation. IMPACT: New varieties for the mid-Atlantic and SE US will contribute to a more sustainable and profitable potato industry. 4. We continued to develop and expand our web-based databases for our program and the NE-1731 Regional Potato Variety Development Project. IMPACT: Our project web site and interactive searchable database, which is updated regularly, (see: http://potatoes.ncsu.edu/NE.html) continues to grow in importance and popularity. Evidence of its importance is the fact that it has been used as a model for other regional and national projects (e.g. the USDA-NIFA SCRI potato acrylamide mitigation project and the USPB national chip trials). 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. The interactive database has become popular as a tool used by researchers and stakeholders, and it can be viewed at < http://potatoes.ncsu.edu/nesrch.php>. The summary generator allows users to build a cultivar summary that contains the most up-to-date performance data in a concise one-page format <http://potatoes.ncsu.edu/nesummary.php>. 5. In our Colorado potato beetle (CPB) nursery we continued our project to select and screen specific families with potential CPB resistance. We planted 952 4-hill plots for selection selection. We selected 216 clones that will be advanced for CPB screening as two replicated 3-hill plots (2by3 trial), and for parallel horticultural adaptation selection as non-replicated 6-hill plots in 2018. In this year's 2by3 trial, 330 clones were evaluated for CPB resistance and adaptation in our non-replicated 6-hill plots simultaneously. After making our selections in both of these trials, we decided to advance 44 clones to next year's screening trial of three replications with 5-hills each (3by5 trial) and for parallel horticultural adaptation selection as non-replicated 20-hill plots in 2018. In this years 3by5 trial we evaluated 7 clones for CPB resistance and for adaptation in our non-replicated 20-hill plots simultaneously. We selected 3 clones for advancement to next year's four replications by 10-hills (4by10) and our non-replicated 60-hill trial. In this year's 4by10 we had a total of 4 clones and 2 of those were selected for evaluation next year. The 4by10 trial is our most advanced screening trial and the most advanced clones will remain in this trial until testing is complete, also some of the clones with promise will be placed in yield trials if they have the appropriate agronomic characteristics. IMPACT: CPB is the major insect pest on potatoes in the US. New varieties with high levels of natural resistance have potential to facilitate production of potatoes with fewer pesticides contributing to the sustainable crop production.

    Publications

    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Endelman, J.B., C.A. Schmitz Carley, D.S. Douches, J.J. Coombs, B. Bizimungu, W.S. De Jong, K.G. HaynesD.G. Holm, J.C. Miller Jr, R.G. Novy, J.P. Palta, D.L. Parish, G.A. Porter, V.R. Sathuvalli, A.L. Thompson, G.C. Yencho. 2017. Pedigree reconstruction with genome-wide markers in potato. Am. J. Potato Res. 94(2): 184-190.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Schumann, M.J., Z-B Zeng, M.E. Clough, G. C. Yencho. 2017. Linkage map construction and QTL analysis for internal heat necrosis in autotetraploid potato. Theor. Appl. Gen. 130:2045-2056.
    • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: G. Craig Yencho and Mark E. Clough. 2017. NC Potato Variety Trial and Breeding Report - 2017, 504pp.


    Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Our target audiences are very broad - ranging from growers and industry personnel seeking highly applied information on new varieties and timely crop production information to multidisciplinary scientists interested in potato genomics and the production of value-added products from potato such as chips and French fries. We adjust our communication strategies appropriately to meet the needs of each target audience and we regularly attend extension-oriented and scientific meetings to disseminate timely information nationally and internationally. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In addition to training MS and PhD level graduate students, this project typically hires 2-3 undergraduate summer helpers to assist with project activities during project year. This work provides significant real-world plant breeding experiences for the undergraduate and graduate students employed by the project. As part of our project we are also engaged in a number of onfarm extention related training activities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our target audiences are very broad ranging from growers and industry personnel seeking highly applied information on new varieties and timely crop production information to multidisciplinary scientists interested in potato genomics. We adjust our communication strategies appropriately to meet the needs of each target audience and we regularly attend extension based and scientific meetings to disseminate timely information nationally and internationally. During 2016 we: 1) conducted three on-farm potato trials with extension agents in Pasquotank and Tyrrell Counties; we are one of the lead PI's in the US Potato Board's National Chip Processor's Trialing Network an 11 state potato variety development effort supported by the USPB and the US Snack Food Association; 3) we attended the Potato EXPO - 2016 where we hosted a potato promotion booth for North Carolina potatoes and the NCSU potato breeding program; and 4) we hosted several numerous 4-H Agent Potato Tours and demonstrations of potato breeding to Northeast Regional School for Biotechnology and Agriculture High School. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? 1. We cooperated with NE-1231 Regional Potato Variety Development Project evaluating 166 preliminary and advanced clones in on-farm and research station trials. IMPACT: The goal of this project is to identify new potato varieties for use in the mid-Atlantic and SE US. Most major varieties, including Atlantic the dominant chipping variety in the US, have passed through this system. We estimate that these varieties, which occupy ~50% of NC's acreage, generated over $36 million in NC farm-gate receipts during 2013. 2. We conducted collaborative early-generation potato selection trials and continued to refine an on-line database for the Potatoes USA and SNAC International National Chip Processors Trial (NCPT) network. IMPACT: The NCPT trialing system and database is national in scope and the program is designed to identify and commercialize as rapidly as possible new potato varieties. It has significant grower support and NC State is a key cooperator. 3. We planted 14, 738 single-hill and 724 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year selection plots, and selected 568 clones for further evaluation in 2016. IMPACT: New varieties for the mid-Atlantic and SE US will contribute to a more sustainable and profitable potato industry. 4. We continued to develop and expand our web-based databases for our program and the NE-1231 Regional Potato Variety Development Project. IMPACT: These databases provide web access to variety trialing data for growers, extension agents, and other industry members, and it has become a model variety trial database for the other regional potato projects in the US. 5. We continued our Colorado Potato Beetle (CPB) germplasm enhancement project by screening clones for CPB resistance. IMPACT: CPB is the major insect pest on potatoes in the US. New varieties with high levels of natural resistance have potential to facilitate production of potatoes with fewer pesticides contributing to the sustainable crop production.

    Publications

    • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: G. Craig Yencho and Mark E. Clough. 2016. NC Potato Variety Trial and Breeding Report - 2016, 44pp.


    Progress 11/12/14 to 09/30/15

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Our target audiences are very broad - ranging from growers and industry personnel seeking highly applied information on new varieties and timely crop production information to multidisciplinary scientists interested in potato genomics and the production of value-added products from potato such as chips and French fries. We adjust our communication strategies appropriately to meet the needs of each target audience and we regularly attend extension-oriented and scientific meetings to disseminate timely information nationally and internationally. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In addition to training MS and PhD level graduate students, this project typically hires 2-3 undergraduate summer helpers to assist with project activities during project year. This work provides significant real-world plant breeding experiences for the undergraduate and graduate students employed by the project. As part of our project we are also engaged in a number of on-farm extention related training activities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our target audiences are very broad ranging from growers and industry personnel seeking highly applied information on new varieties and timely crop production information to multidisciplinary scientists interested in potato genomics. We adjust our communication strategies appropriately to meet the needs of each target audience and we regularly attend extension based and scientific meetings to disseminate timely information nationally and internationally. During 2015 we: 1) conducted three on-farm potato trials with extension agents in Pasquotank and Tyrrell Counties; we are one of the lead PI's in the US Potato Board's National Chip Processor's Trialing Network an 11 state potato variety development effort supported by the USPB and the US Snack Food Association; 3) we attended the Potato EXPO - 2015 where we hosted a potato promotion booth for North Carolina potatoes and the NCSU potato breeding program; and 4) we hosted several numerous 4-H Agent Potato Tours and demonstrations of potato breeding to Northeast Regional School for Biotechnology and Agriculture High School. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Our crossing block, mini-tuber production and early-generation selection research is conducted in the greenhouses and fields of the NCDACS Tidewater Research Station/NCSU Vernon James Research and Extension Center (TRS/VJREC), Plymouth. NC. Clones that survive 4 cycles (years) of selection as 1-, 6-, 20-, and 60-plant plots are entered into preliminary and advanced yield trials in research station and on-farm sites. During 2015, we evaluated a total of 314 advanced and preliminary clones in on-farm and research station yield trials. These entries were mostly from the USDA-ARS BARC, Univ. of Maine, Cornell University, and Michigan State University . All of our trials are described in detail in our NC Potato Variety Trial and Breeding Report 2015, which has been given to our extension, research and industry cooperators. This report is also available on our website at: http://potatoes.ncsu.edu. We also cooperated with NE-1231 (formerly 1031) Regional Potato Variety Development Project evaluating preliminary and advanced clones in on-farm and research station trials. The goal of this project is to identify new potato varieties for use in the mid-Atlantic and SE US, which will contribute to a more sustainable and profitable potato industry. Most major varieties, including Atlantic the dominant chipping variety in the US, have passed through this system. We estimate that these varieties, which occupy ~50% of NC's acreage, generated over $22 million in NC farm-gate receipts during 2012. Last, we conducted collaborative early-generation potato selection trials and continued to refine an on-line database for the US Potato Board (USPB) National Chip Processors Trial (NCPT) network. The NCPT trialing system and database is national in scope and the program is designed to identify and commercialize as rapidly as possible new potato varieties. It has significant grower support and NC State is a key cooperator.

    Publications

    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Haynes KG, Gergela DM, Halseth DE, Menasha SR, Sieczka JB, Yencho GC, Clough ME, Henninger MR, Qu XS, Christ BJ, et al. 2015. Peter wilcox: A new purple-skin, yellow-flesh fresh market potato cultivar with moderate resistance to powdery scab. American Journal of Potato Research 92(5):573-81.