Source: UNIVERSITY OF MAINE submitted to NRP
POTATO BREEDING TO IMPROVE BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC STRESS TOLERANCE FOR EASTERN MARKETS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
SPECIAL GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1020651
Grant No.
2019-34141-30285
Cumulative Award Amt.
$1,043,469.00
Proposal No.
2019-03713
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2019
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2022
Grant Year
2020
Program Code
[AN]- Potato Research
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE
(N/A)
ORONO,ME 04469
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Potato breeding and variety development in the eastern U.S is accomplished through an integrated, seven-state (Florida, Maine, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) effort with four collaborating breeding programs conducting multi-site and -disciplinary selection and variety development research across the eastern seaboard. Breeding priorities are determined from stakeholder input. Our overall goal is to develop attractive, productive, abiotic stress-tolerant, disease- and insect-resistant potato varieties that can be grown by small and large potato producers to enhance marketing opportunities, farm sustainability and profits. The specific objectives are: 1) Create 85,000 new seedlings yearly and evaluate early- and advanced-generation clones for market quality, stress tolerance, and pest resistance; 2) Develop and evaluate diagnostic markers for resistance to internal heat necrosis, late blight, and race Ro2 of the golden nematode; 3) Phenotype and genotype training populations for future genomic selection; and 4) Enhance web-based reporting of project results and evaluate the Field Book app for collecting phenotype data across all trial sites. Our long-term priority is to use conventional and marker-assisted breeding and selection to develop varieties with resistance to important abiotic stresses and plant diseases such as late blight, scab, PVY, early blight, and golden nematode. Our selection procedures utilize diverse eastern growing conditions to select potato germplasm with resistance to pests, heat stress, and stress-related defects, and our programs continue to adopt uniform data collection and distribution techniques to facilitate communication with stakeholders and researchers, as well as to prepare for future utilization of genomic selection.
Animal Health Component
90%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
90%
Developmental
10%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
2011310108150%
2031310108110%
2041310108115%
2121310108115%
2111310108110%
Knowledge Area
212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants; 204 - Plant Product Quality and Utility (Preharvest); 211 - Insects, Mites, and Other Arthropods Affecting Plants; 203 - Plant Biological Efficiency and Abiotic Stresses Affecting Plants; 201 - Plant Genome, Genetics, and Genetic Mechanisms;

Subject Of Investigation
1310 - Potato;

Field Of Science
1081 - Breeding;
Goals / Objectives
Our overall goal is to develop attractive, productive, abiotic stress-tolerant, disease- and insect-resistant potato varieties that can be grown by small and large potato producers to enhance marketing opportunities, farm sustainability and profits. The specific objectives are: 1) Create 85,000 new seedlings yearly and evaluate early- and advanced-generation clones for market quality, stress tolerance, and pest resistance; 2) Develop and evaluate diagnostic markers for resistance to internal heat necrosis, late blight, and race Ro2 of the golden nematode; 3) Phenotype and genotype training populations for future genomic selection; and 4) Enhance web-based reporting of project results and evaluate the Field Book app for collecting phenotype data across all trial sites. Our long-term priority is to use conventional and marker-assisted breeding and selection to develop varieties with resistance to important abiotic stresses and plant diseases such as late blight, scab, PVY, early blight, and golden nematode.
Project Methods
Approach: Objective 1. Create 85,000 new seedlings yearly and evaluate early- and advanced-generation clones created for improved market quality, stress tolerance, and pest resistance.Coordinated Eastern Approach to Potato Breeding, Selection, and Variety Development.Hybridization and selection are conducted within the region's four breeding programs (ME, NC, NY, USDA-ARS). Each breeding program shares seedling populations as botanical seed or as mini-tubers resulting in extensive germplasm exchange. Most of the crosses made within each eastern program utilize parental materials that includeSolanum tuberosumgermplasm from North America, Europe, and the International Potato Center (CIP) in Peru (via the US potato gene bank). Parents are selected for desirable yield, quality, and biotic and abiotic resistance traits, as well as male and female fertility. Our breeding efforts currently place high priority on heat stress tolerance, as well as late blight, early blight, nematode, scab, soft rot, insect, and virus resistance. Each cross produces a family of true potato seed (TPS), which is used to produce seedling tubers. The seedling tubers are used for subsequent field selection and/or laboratory evaluation. Initial field selection is based on tuber appearance, tuber size, visual estimation of yield, and parental background. Across the region, our programs are currently screening approximately 85,000 first-year seedlings each year (ME 50,000; NY 20,000; NC 15,000). Selection intensity depends on the attributes of the families (e.g., crosses conducted to generate late blight resistance or processing capabilities will be subjected to less rigid tuber appearance selection than crosses for fresh market). Depending on the program, ~2 to 10% of the clones remain after the first selection season. Typically, two to four selection cycles are conducted by each breeding program before distributing selected clones to collaborators at other sites, although for some crosses, the diverse environments provided by regional cooperators are used to improve the selection process via simultaneous early-generation selection in multiple environments. Early generation evaluation in multiple locations facilitates selection of both broadly and specifically-adapted plant materials for eastern environments.As superior progeny are identified, they are field-evaluated for an expanded suite of traits under an even wider range of environmental conditions through the eastern regional potato variety trials (NE-1731 Regional Project; trial sites in FL, NC, VA, PA, OH, NY, and ME). These trials subject advanced clones to diverse growing conditions and help us learn more about their strengths and weaknesses, geographical adaptation, yield stability, and durability of pest and disease resistance. Wealso actively participate in nationally-coordinated, multi-site screening trials such as the Potatoes USA National Chip and Fry Processing Trials (NCPT, NFPT), SNAC International Chip Trials, and the Fast-track Chipping Program. The most promising lines are entered into large-scale demonstration trials to assess commercial potential.Stakeholder Input and Potato Variety Development. Potato variety development is impossible without active interaction between researchers, extension, and stakeholders. Our project participantsare highly engaged with the U.S. potato industry and all eastern potato breeding programs utilize direct input from growers, processors, and industry groups (e.g., Potatoes USA, grower associations, processors, etc.) to guide research priorities, breeding efforts and variety release.Approach:Objective 2. Continue to develop and evaluate diagnostic markers for resistance to internal heat necrosis, late blight, and race Ro2 of the golden nematode.Using single nucleotide polymorpism(SNP) gene annotations and the potato reference genome we have tentatively identified a candidate gene involved in internal heat necrosis (IHN) under stress conditions. We will nexttest QTL markersand candidate genes associated with IHN in new populations segregating for resistance.We will also conduct IHN RNAseq expression studies. High levels of late blight resistance has been developed in adiploid phu-stn population. This plant material will be released to the breeding community as late blight resistant germplasm and used to furtherto identify QTLs for late blight resistance. Segregating populations will be phenotyped in the field in PA and genotyped using the SolCap Infinium SNP array. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) has become a powerful tool for decoding genotype-phenotype association and exploring the genetic architecture of complex traits in crops. We will use phenotyping plus GWAS approaches to evaluate potato germplasm for resistance to diseases such as late blight, early blight, Dickeya soft rot and common scab.QTL mapping in a biparental population (NY121 x NY115) recently identified several SNP markers on the upper arm of chromosome 5 associated with resistance to golden nematode pathotype Ro2. These SNP markers will be assessed for their ability to predict resistance to Ro2.Approach: Objective 3. Phenotype and genotype training populations in preparation for genomic selection.Genomic selection (GS) enables breeders to more precisely estimate the potential breeding value of parents. Before genomic selection can begin in eastern potato programs, we first need to genotype and phenotype several hundred clones from each program. In each of the two years of this project, the ME, NY and NC breeding programs will each collect yield, specific gravity, fry color, tuber shape, internal defect and other agronomic trait data from 100 or more 3rd-field-year clones. Using other funding sources, we will also genotype each of the phenotyped clones with the SolCAP SNP chip. This will allow us to develop GS selection models to begin predicting phenotypes, with the goal of evaluating GS effectiveness.Approach: Objective 4. Enhance web-based reporting of project results and evaluate the Field Book app for collecting phenotype data across all eastern trial sites. Project participants will adopt uniform phenotypicdata collection tools that will ease information sharing and dissemination.As part of this project, we will refine our data collection protocols so that our phenotypic data can be efficiently linked to current and future genomic data with the goal of streamlining future potato breeding efforts.Our project website and database (http://potatoes.ncsu.edu/nesrch.php) makes our project results available to researchers, educators, growers and industry professionals throughout theU.S. Going forward, we will migrate our database to the Variety Data Management (VDM) web site (https://potatoesusa.mediusag.com/) that Potatoes USA funded to host data from national chip and fry processing trials. Our data will remain searchable and freely available to researchers, stakeholders, and the public.

Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/22

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?Students, technicians, and professionals working on the project learned about agricultural research, potato breeding, potato cultivar development, and the need for improved potato varieties. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Advanced clones from our project are being introduced to growers through field days, on-farm demonstrations, presentations, publications, web sites, and direct contact with stakeholders at state, regional and national potato industry meetings. The advanced clones and releases from the Eastern project continue to be commercially evaluated and adopted by farmers and our industry stakeholders. Recent Eastern releases were grown on 3127 ME and NY seed acres during 2021 with a seed value of ~$10.9M. The resulting seed crop has the potential to plant 31,274 acres in 2022 with a ware value estimated at $102M. Nationally, varieties released by our long-term project since 2007 were grown on 7369 seed acres during 2021 with an approximate seed value of $26M and potential ware production value of $239M. Several varieties developed though our collective efforts are in the top 100 U.S. varieties based on seed acreage, including (acres, rank): Lamoka (3108, 8), Waneta (1511, 15), Caribou Russet (1476, 16), Lady Liberty (629, 31), Lehigh (283, 48), Reba (126, 71), Hamlin Russet (90, 81), Eva (88, 83), and Genesee (73, 92). Two of NY's recent chipping releases, Waneta and Lamoka, have been widely adopted by commercial growers. Based on 2021 certified seed acreage, Lamoka ranks 8th among US varieties in certified seed production (3108 acres) and has replaced Snowden (1874 seed acres in 2021) as the standard storage chipping variety across the US. Waneta has also been widely adopted (1511 acres of seed in 2021, 15th ranked in the US) for chipping and fresh market. We estimate that the annual value of potato chip production from Lamoka and Waneta exceeds one billion dollars (~15% of U.S. chip production). Lady Liberty, formerly NY152, was released for chipping during 2018 and has high yields, excellent chip color out of cold storage, potato virus Y and common scab resistance. National seed acreage increased to 629 during 2021, ranking it 31th in the U.S. just three years after its official variety release. Caribou Russet was released by ME during 2015 for fry processing and russet fresh market. It is rapidly being adopted due to high yields, scab and verticillium resistance, and excellent consumer quality. Certified seed acreage rose to 1475 acres (#16 in the US) during 2021. Caribou Russet's cash farm value to ME seed growers was ~$5.2 M during 2021 and the estimated cash farm value when this seed crop is planted, grown, and sold in 2022 is ~$47.9M. It is also being evaluated and adopted in many other countries around the world. Hamlin Russet (tested as AF4124-7) was released by ME during 2020 for early fry processing and russet fresh market. It has moderate scab resistance. Certified seed acreage rose to 90 acres (#81st in the US) during 2021. AF5071-2 and AF5406-7 are advanced fry processing clones that are generating commercial interest, while 30 additional russeted French fry clones are currently being evaluated by North American potato processors. Improved fresh market whites, yellows, reds, and specialties continue to be developed by our programs and several are currently in commercial trials. Brodie (2018), formerly NY140, is a dual-purpose table and chipstock variety with excellent marketable yields, attractive tuber skin and excellent fry color out of cold storage. It is the first U.S. cultivar with resistance to race Ro2 of the golden nematode and it is also resistant to race Ro1. Pinto Gold, a ME release in 2018, has been very valuable for direct sales in the high-value specialty market due to its attractive red and yellow patterned skin, yellow flesh, small tuber size, and excellent flavor. Other fresh market releases such as Algonquin (2017), a high yielding white, Red Maria (2010), a high-yielding red, Lehigh (2007), a widely-adapted yellow-fleshed variety, and Peter Wilcox (2007), a novel purple-skinned, yellow-fleshed variety continue to be adopted by fresh market growers. The project places special emphasis on breeding and selecting clones with resistance to late blight, early blight, scab, golden nematode races Ro1 and Ro2, potato virus Y (PVY) and other diseases. Recent releases Upstate Abundance, Lady Liberty, Eva, and Pinto Gold have resistance to PVY. Brodie and Upstate Abundance have resistance to two golden nematode races (Ro1 and Ro2). Many other recent releases have resistance to one or more important pests, including common scab, golden nematode, and verticillium wilt. All NY round whites, and most of the NY colored crosses, segregate for resistance to golden nematode Ro1 or Ro2, as do many crosses from the ME, NC and USDA programs. Disease resistant varieties generated by this project have the potential to greatly reduce growers' losses to devastating diseases such as late blight and can also reduce production costs. Golden nematode, a serious pest found in NY and in other countries, cannot be effectively managed without resistant varieties. Caribou Russet from the Maine breeding program and several diploid clones from USDA-ARS at Beltsville have shown high levels of resistance to softrot and blackleg. A recent flair up of these diseases has been devastating to eastern potato growers. Our collaborative programs are ideally located to breed and select new potato varieties for the important but stressful southeast and east coast growing areas (FL, NC, VA, MD, NJ, DE, NY, and other states). These areas are characterized by short growing seasons, inconsistent rainfall leading to both deficits and flooding, early-season frosts, and late-season heat stress. Atlantic, which occupies ~50% of NC's acreage, generated ca. $10 million in NC farm-gate receipts is a major variety throughout this region. The chip industry has indicated that replacing Atlantic is a major goal for potato variety development in the U.S. Most major varieties, including Atlantic the dominant out-of-field chipping variety in the U.S., and Lamoka a current leader in storage chipping market, have passed through the eastern U.S. potato breeding collaborative. Our collaborative project is well designed and ideally situated to address future variety needs in the eastern half of the U.S. Disease and pest challenges cost the U.S. potato industry many millions of dollars annually in yield and quality losses, as well as increased control costs. Predominant diseases in the East include late blight, early blight, common scab, powdery scab, soft rot, pink rot, and potato virus Y. Developing improved varieties with resistance to these diseases is the most sustainable long-term approach to combating them. Resistant varieties result in decreased yield and quality losses, while in some cases they allow growers to reduce their use of chemical pesticides. Sometime resistant varieties are the only practical solution to a pest problem. For example, potatoes cannot be produced in some areas of New York unless golden nematode resistant varieties are grown. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Research activities took place in seven states (FL, ME, NC, NY, OH, PA and VA) during 2019 through 2022. This research involved collaborations with the USDA-ARS Potato Breeding Programs in Beltsville, MD, Aberdeen, ID and Madison, WI, as well as the Potatoes USA National Chip and Fry Processor's Trials. Potato breeding for improved quality and pest resistance continued in ME, NY, and NC during 2019-2021. In addition to improving yield, quality, and pest resistance, our programs are developing new stress tolerant potato varieties which will be more resilient to climate change. Our programs generated 1315 new tetraploid families (1,136,275 seeds) from crosses using parents with desirable quality, adaptation, and/or pest resistance traits. ME also generated 172 primary dihaploid progeny for use in germplasm improvement. First-year field selections were conducted using progeny (148,088) from earlier crosses. As a result, 7026 new clones were selected for further field and laboratory evaluation under the diverse abiotic and biotic stress conditions of the eastern U.S. and beyond. The areas of emphasis for the breeding programs are: ME (russets, chippers, and fresh market, resistance to late blight, scab, and potato virus Y (PVY)); NC (chippers and fresh; heat tolerance and resistance to PVY); NY (chippers and fresh; resistance to scab, golden nematode, and PVY); USDA-ARS (chippers and fresh; heat tolerance and resistance to late blight and PVY). Multi-site evaluation of early-generation clones speeds the breeding and selection process and enables us to identify both broadly- and specifically-adapted clones that will be useful to the U.S. potato industry and potato growers at all scales of production. In preparation for expanded use of genomic selection, our projects collected phenotypic data from early-selection screening trials (2nd to 3rd year of field selection) and we began genotyping these clones using funds generated from other grants. Our project places special emphasis on breeding and selecting clones with resistance to late blight, early blight, scab, golden nematode races Ro1 and Ro2, PVY, and other diseases. Recent releases Upstate Abundance, Lady Liberty, Eva, and Pinto Gold have resistance to PVY. Brodie and Upstate Abundance have resistance to two golden nematode races (Ro1 and Ro2). Many other recent releases have resistance to one or more important pests, including common scab, golden nematode, and verticillium wilt. Many of our advancing clones have late blight resistance. Marker-assisted selection is being used to speed the development of PVY and golden nematode resistant varieties in our breeding programs. NY has recently begun to make crosses to bring higher levels of resistance to Globodera pallida into potato germplasm just in case this pest, currently present in Idaho, becomes a major threat to Eastern US potato production. Experiments in ME are being used to identify clones with resistance to pink rot, black leg, and softrot. Caribou Russet from the Maine breeding program and several diploid clones from USDA-ARS at Beltsville have shown high level of resistance to Dickeya dianthicola and Pectobacterium parmentieri. These clones are being further investigated using genomic mapping. Disease resistant varieties generated by this project have the potential to greatly reduce growers' losses to devastating diseases such as late blight and can also reduce production costs. Research on the genetics of internal heat necrosis (IHN) and the development of clones and populations with improved resistance to this tuber defect continued. The test site in NC provides good environmental conditions that all four breeding programs utilize in selecting for IHN resistance. During 2019 through 2021, NC collaborated with the ME, NY, USDA, and other US potato breeding programs to screen a total of 3,088 early generation clones for heat tolerance and resistance to IHN. This will help our programs develop new heat-tolerant potato varieties. Parallel to this, NC has conducted research on the genetics of IHN tolerance in potatoes. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) for IHN were detected on chromosomes 1, 5, 9, and 12, with the QTL models for IHN explaining roughly 28 and 25% of the variation for IHN incidence and severity. Additional studies have sought to identify candidate genes associated with IHN expression and map these onto the potato genetic map. ME continues to advance marker assisted selection (MAS) protocols for potato breeding and is improving the automation process to speed throughput. Work is also underway to develop mapping populations using elite tetraploid potato germplasm that contain PVY, late blight and black leg resistance to investigate the genetic components of these important traits. We continue to evaluate primary dihaploid progeny of haploid induction crosses using the IVP48 haploid inducer in combination with important tetraploid cultivars (e.g. Atlantic, Caribou Russet, Dakota Trailblazer, Castle Russet, etc). These progeny will be used to evaluate the inheritance of late blight and PVY resistance in the NY121 dihaploid population, and for blackleg and soft rot resistance in the Caribou Russet dihaploid population. Our project web site and searchable database continues to grow in size and utility. The database has now migrated to a more powerful and the user-friendly Variety Data Management platform (https://neproject.medius.re/). 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. This new database can provide side-by-side comparative data for potato clones and varieties as well as advanced analytical tools. ?

Publications

  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: De Jong, W.S. and M. Falise. 2022. Cornell potato breeding program annual report. 18 pp.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Clough, M. and G.C. Yencho. North Carolina Potato Variety Trial and Breeding Report 2022. 47 pp. (available online at https://potatoes.cals.ncsu.edu/)
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Fan G, Wang Q, Xu J, Chen N, Zhu W, Duan S, Yang X, De Jong WS, Guo Y, Jin L, Li G. 2022. Fine mapping and candidate gene prediction of tuber shape controlling Ro locus based on integrating genetic and transcriptomic analyses in potato. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23:1470. https:// doi.org/10.3390/ijms23031470
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Haynes KG, Qu XS, Bamberg J. 2022. Germplasm release: true potato seed (TPS) from a late blight resistant, long-day adapted diploid potato population that is segregating for early blight resistance. American Journal of Potato Research 99:321-325
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Hoopes G, Meng X, Hamilton JP, Achakkagari SR, de Alves Freitas Guesdes F, Bolger ME, Coombs JJ, Esselink D, Kaiser NR, Kodde L, Kyriakidou M, Lavrijssen B, van Lieshout N, Shereda R, Tuttle HK, Vaillancourt B, Wood JC, de Boer JM, Bornowski N, Bourke P, Douches D, van Eck HJ, Ellis D, Feldman MJ, Gardner KM, Hopman JCP, Jiang J, De Jong WS, Kuhl JC, Novy RG, Oome S, Sathuvalli V, Tan EH, Ursum RA, Vales MI, Vining K, Visser RGF, Vossen J, Yencho GC, Anglin NL, Bachem CWB, Endelman JB, Shannon LM, Stro?mvik MV, Tai HH, Usadel B, Buell CR, and Finkers R. 2022. Phased, chromosome-scale genome assemblies of tetraploid potato reveals a complex genome, transcriptome, and predicted proteome landscape underpinning genetic diversity. Molecular Plant 15: 520-536. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2022.01.003.
  • Type: Other Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2022 Citation: Kleinhenz, M.D., J.M. Speicher, and S.D. Walker. 2022. 2022 Ohio Potato Germplasm Evaluation Report, Horticulture and Crop Science Series No. 887 November 2022, XX pp
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Krupek F, Zotarelli L, Sargent SA, Rowland DL, and Dittmar P. 2022. Vine desiccation timing strategies for enhanced harvest and storage quality of early-maturing potato cultivars. Potato Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11540-022-09550-3
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Porter, G.A., P. Ocaya, B. MacFarline, and B. Plummer. 2022. Potato variety trial results in Maine, 2021 growing season. SFA Research Report (posted on www and distributed to industry), 2021-01, 32 pp. Also available at https://neproject.medius.re
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Porter, G.A. and P. Ocaya. 2022. Progress report on advanced potato variety testing and potato PVY research - 2021 Growing Season. Report to the Maine Potato Board, February 2022, 9 pp.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Porter, G.A. and P. Ocaya. 2022. Progress report on Maine potato breeding program  2021 growing season. Report to the Maine Potato Board, February 2022, 15 pp.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Qu X.S. and M.W. Peck. 2022. Pennsylvania potato research report, 2021. Penn State College of Agricultural sciences, January 2022. (https://plantpath.psu.edu/research/areas/plant-disease-management/penn-state-potato-research-program/pennsylvania-potato-research-reports). 40 pp.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Qu XS, Xue WY, Peck MW. 2022. Evaluation of potato cultivars and breeding lines for resistance to late blight in Pennsylvania, 2021. Plant Disease Management Reports 16:V030.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Qu XS, Xue WY, Peck MW. 2022. Evaluation of potato cultivars and breeding lines for resistance to early blight in Pennsylvania, 2021. Plant Disease Management Reports 16:V029.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Qu XS, Xue WY, Peck MW. 2022. Field evaluation of potato cultivars and breeding lines for resistance to common scab in Pennsylvania, 2021. Plant Disease Management Reports 16:V031
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Xue WY, Haynes KG, Clarke CR, and Qu XS. 2022. Genetic dissection of early blight resistance in tetraploid potato. Frontiers in Plant Science 13:851538.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Xue WY, Haynes KG, and Qu XS. 2021. Resistance to Phytophthora infestans clonal lineage US-23 in potato cultivars and its relationship with early blight resistance and tuber yield. Plant Disease 105:3956-3966.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Zotarelli, L. and P. Solano. 2022. Florida potato variety trial report, 2022. Horticultural Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Volume 12.


Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21

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?Students, technicians, and professionals working on the project learned about agricultural research, potato breeding, potato cultivar development, and the need for improved potato varieties. Kristen Brown completed her University of Maine PhD work as part of this project and has since been hired as a post doctoral associate. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Advanced clones from our project are being introduced to growers through field days, on-farm demonstrations, presentations, publications, web sites, and direct contact with stakeholders at state, regional and national potato industry meetings. The advanced clones and releases from the Eastern project continue to be commercially evaluated and adopted by farmers and our industry stakeholders. Recent Eastern releases were grown on 3,432 ME and NY seed acres during 2020 with a seed value of ~$12.0M. The resulting seed crop had the potential to plant 34,318 acres in 2021 with a ware value estimated at $103.0M. Nationally, varieties produced by our long-term project were grown on 7316 seed acres during 2020 with an approximate seed value of $25.6M and potential ware production value of $219.5M. Several varieties developed though our collective efforts are in the top 100 U.S. varieties based on seed acreage, including (acres, rank): Lamoka (3302, 7), Waneta (1341, 16), Caribou Russet (1138, 18), Lady Liberty (433, 34), Lehigh (297, 41), Reba (110, 71), Hamlin Russet (83, 78), Eva (74, 80), Keuka Gold (72, 82), Brodie (57, 92), Andover (52, 95), Pike (50, 96), and Upstate Abundance (46, 99). Two of NY's recent chipping releases, Waneta and Lamoka, have been widely adopted by commercial growers. Based on 2020 certified seed acreage, Lamoka ranks 7th among US varieties in certified seed production (3302 acres) and for the last four years has replaced Snowden (1989 seed acres in 2020) as the standard storage chipping variety across the U.S. Waneta has also been widely adopted (1341 acres of seed in 2020, 16th ranked in the US) for chipping, fresh market, and fresh fries. We estimate that the annual value of potato chip production from Lamoka and Waneta exceeds one billion dollars (~15% of U.S. chip production). Caribou Russet was released by ME during 2015 for fry processing and russet fresh market. It is being rapidly adopted due to high yields, scab and verticillium resistance, and excellent consumer quality. Certified seed acreage rose to 1138 acres (#18 in the US) during 2020. Caribou Russet's cash farm value to ME seed growers was ~$3.9 M during 2020 and the estimated cash farm value when this seed crop is planted, grown, and sold in 2021 is ~$33.1M. It is also being evaluated and adopted in many other countries around the world. Hamlin Russet (tested as AF4124-7) was released by ME during 2020 for early fry processing and russet fresh market. It has moderate scab resistance. Certified seed acreage rose to 83 acres (#78th in the US) during 2020. AF5071-2 and AF5406-7 are advanced fry processing clones that are generating commercial interest, while 30 additional russeted French fry clones are currently being evaluated by North American potato processors. Brodie (2018), formerly NY140, is a dual-purpose table and chipstock variety with excellent marketable yields, attractive tuber skin and excellent fry color out of cold storage. It is the first U.S. cultivar with resistance to race Ro2 of the golden nematode and it is also resistant to race Ro1. Lady Liberty (2018), formerly NY152, was released for chipping and has high yields, excellent chip color out of cold storage, common scab resistance, PVY immunity, and small tuber size profile (which makes it well-suited for highly popular, snack-sized bags of potato chips). Pinto Gold, a ME release in 2018, has been very valuable for direct sales in the high-value specialty market due to its attractive red and yellow patterned skin, yellow flesh, small tuber size, and excellent flavor. Other fresh market releases such as Algonquin (2017), a high yielding white, Red Maria (2010), a high-yielding red, Lehigh (2007), a widely-adapted yellow-fleshed variety, and Peter Wilcox (2007), a novel purple-skinned, yellow-fleshed variety continue to be adopted by fresh market growers. The project places special emphasis on breeding and selecting clones with resistance to late blight, early blight, scab, golden nematode races Ro1 and Ro2, potato virus Y (PVY) and other diseases. Recent releases Upstate Abundance, Lady Liberty, Eva, and Pinto Gold have resistance to PVY. Brodie and Upstate Abundance have resistance to two golden nematode races (Ro1 and Ro2). Many other recent releases have resistance to one or more important pests, including common scab, golden nematode, and verticillium wilt. All NY round whites, and most of the NY colored crosses, segregate for resistance to golden nematode Ro1 or Ro2, as do many crosses from the ME, NC and USDA programs. Disease resistant varieties generated by this project have the potential to greatly reduce growers' losses to devastating diseases such as late blight and can also reduce production costs. Golden nematode, a serious pest found in NY and in other countries, cannot be effectively managed without resistant varieties. Caribou Russet from the Maine breeding program and several diploid clones from USDA-ARS at Beltsville have shown high levels of resistance to softrot and blackleg. A recent flair up of these diseases has been devastating to eastern potato growers. Our collaborative programs are ideally located to breed and select new potato varieties for the important but stressful southeast and east coast growing areas (FL, NC, VA, MD, NJ, DE, NY, and other states). These areas are characterized by short growing seasons, inconsistent rainfall leading to both deficits and flooding, early-season frosts, and late-season heat stress. Atlantic, which occupies ~50% of NC's acreage, generated ca. $10 million in NC farm-gate receipts is a major variety throughout this region. The chip industry has indicated that replacing Atlantic is a major goal for potato variety development in the U.S. Most major varieties, including Atlantic the dominant out-of-field chipping variety in the U.S., and Lamoka a current leader in storage chipping market, have passed through the eastern U.S. potato breeding collaborative. Our collaborative project is well designed and ideally situated to address future variety needs in the eastern half of the U.S. Disease and pest challenges cost the U.S. potato industry many millions of dollars annually in yield and quality losses, as well as increased control costs. Predominant diseases in the East include late blight, early blight, common scab, powdery scab, soft rot, pink rot, and potato virus Y. Developing improved varieties with resistance to these diseases is the most sustainable long-term approach to combating them. Resistant varieties result in decreased yield and quality losses, while in some cases they allow growers to reduce their use of chemical pesticides. Sometime resistant varieties are the only practical solution to a pest problem. For example, potatoes cannot be produced in some areas of New York unless golden nematode resistant varieties are grown. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The research team plans to continue research, development, and outreach activities according to our approved proposal and work plan.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Research activities took place in seven states (FL, ME, NC, NY, OH, PA and VA) during 2020 and 2021. This research involved collaborations with the USDA-ARS Potato Breeding Programs in Beltsville, MD, Aberdeen, ID and Madison, WI, as well as the Potatoes USA National Chip and Fry Processors' Trials. Potato breeding for improved quality and pest resistance continued in ME, NY, and NC during 2019-2021. Our programs generated 1315 new tetraploid families (1,136,275 seeds) from crosses using parents with desirable quality, adaptation, and/or pest resistance traits. ME also generated 172 primary dihaploid progeny for use in germplasm improvement. First-year field selections were conducted using progeny (148,088) from earlier crosses. As a result, 7026 new clones were selected for further field and laboratory evaluation under the diverse abiotic and biotic stress conditions of the eastern U.S. and beyond. The areas of emphasis for the breeding programs are: ME (russets and chippers, resistance to late blight, scab, and potato virus Y (PVY)); NC (chippers and fresh; heat tolerance and resistance to PVY); NY (chippers and fresh; resistance to scab, golden nematode, and PVY); USDA-ARS (chippers and fresh; heat tolerance and resistance to late blight and PVY). Multi-site evaluation of early-generation clones speeds the breeding and selection process and enables us to identify both broadly- and specifically-adapted clones that will be useful to the U.S. potato industry and potato growers at all scales of production. In preparation for expanded use of genomic selection, our projects collected phenotypic data from early-selection screening trials (2nd to 3rd year of field selection) and we began genotyping these clones using funds generated from other grants.Our project places special emphasis on breeding and selecting clones with resistance to late blight, early blight, scab, golden nematode races Ro1 and Ro2, PVY, and other diseases. Recent releases Upstate Abundance, Niagara, Eva, and Pinto Gold have resistance to PVY. Brodie and Upstate Abundance have resistance to two golden nematode races (Ro1 and Ro2). Many other recent releases have resistance to one or more important pests, including common scab, golden nematode, and verticillium wilt. Many of our advancing clones have late blight resistance. Marker-assisted selection is being used to speed the development of PVY and golden nematode resistant varieties in our breeding programs. NY has recently begun to make crosses to bring higher levels of resistance to Globodera pallida into potato germplasm just in case this pest, currently present in Idaho, ever becomes a major threat to Eastern US potato production. Experiments in ME are being used to identify clones with resistance to pink rot, black leg, and softrot. Caribou Russet from the Maine breeding program and several diploid clones from USDA-ARS at Beltsville have shown high level of resistance to Dickeya dianthicola and Pectobacterium parmentieri. These clones are being further investigated using genomic mapping. Disease resistant varieties generated by this project have the potential to greatly reduce growers' losses to devastating diseases such as late blight and can also reduce production costs. Research on the genetics of internal heat necrosis (IHN) and the development of clones and populations with improved resistance to this tuber defect continued. The test site in NC provides good environmental conditions that all four breeding programs utilize in selecting for IHN resistance. During 2019 and 2020, NC screened a total of 2,569 early generation clones. Of these 2,063 were from NC, 128 from ME, 81 from the USDA-ARS Beltsville, 288 from Cornell, while 432 were from the Early Generation Southern Selection Program (EGSS) and 293 were from the NCPT programs sponsored by Potatoes USA (both EGSS and NCPT contain clones from CO, ME, MI, NC, ND, NY, OR, TX, USDA-ID, USDA-MD and WI). Screening for IHN continued during 2021. In a previous study of the NC mapping population, B2721, we detected quantitative trait loci (QTL) for IHN on chromosomes 1, 5, 9, and 12, with the QTL models for IHN explaining roughly 28 and 25% of the variation for IHN incidence and severity. During the 2019-2020 cycle, NC conducted RNAseq IHN presence/absence expression analysis studies using the susceptible variety Atlantic and a combination of greenhouse and phytotron studies to identify candidate genes associated with IHN expression and map these onto the potato genetic map. The goal was to probe for possible trends in RNA expression in tuber samples that displayed IHN and those that did not. NC analyzed the transcriptome from tubers showing no symptoms and compared those with tubers that displayed IHN symptoms to see if RNAseq differences associated with IHN expression in the tuber could be detected. RNA sequencing produced on average 50 million paired end reads, 97% of which we were able to map onto the recently released V.6.1 genome. PCA analysis showed clear clustering for samples that displayed IHN symptoms and ones that did not. These data will be used in future genomic selection efforts to reduce the impact of this important stress-related disorder. ME continues to advance marker assisted selection (MAS) protocols for potato breeding and is improving the automation process to speed throughput. Work is also underway to develop mapping populations using elite tetraploid potato germplasm that contain PVY, late blight and black leg resistance to investigate the genetic components of these important traits. We continue to evaluate primary dihaploid progeny of haploid induction crosses using the IVP48 haploid inducer in combination with important tetraploid cultivars (e.g. Atlantic, Caribou Russet, Dakota Trailblazer, Castle Russet, etc). We plan to evaluate the inheritance of late blight and PVY resistance in the NY121 dihaploid population, and for blackleg and soft rot resistance in the Caribou Russet dihaploid population. Our project web site and searchable database continues to grow in size and utility. The database has now migrated to a more powerful and the user-friendly Variety Data Management platform (https://neproject.medius.re/). 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. This new database can provide side-by-side comparative data for potato clones and varieties as well as advanced analytical tools.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Andrade, M.H.M.L., C.C.F. Filho, M.O. Fernandes, A.J.R. Bastos, M.L. Guedes, T.D.S. Mar�al, F.M.A. Gon�alves, C.A.B.P. Pinto, L. Zotarelli. 2020 Accounting for spatial trends to increase the selection efficiency in potato breeding. Crop Science, 2020:1-19. doi:10.1002/csc2.20226
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Brown Donovan, K. 2020. Assessing Pyramiding in Potato for Disease Resistance Breeding. University of Maine, PhD dissertation. 103 pp
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Clough, M. and G.C. Yencho. North Carolina Potato Variety Trial and Breeding Report 2020. 52 pp.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: De Jong, W.S., D.E. Halseth, R.L. Plaisted, X. Wang, K.L. Perry, X. Qu, K.M. Paddock, M. Falise, B.J. Christ, and G.A. Porter. 2020. Waneta, a Variety with Excellent Chip Color out of Cold Storage, Long Tuber Dormancy, and Resistance to the Golden Cyst Nematode. Am J Potato Research published on-line at https://doi.org/10.1007/s12230-020-09806-z
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Insinga, J.K., Alyokhin, A. Hao, J., Ge, T. Marangoni, N.F. and Baron, A. The potential for Dickeya dianthicola to be vectored by two common insect pests of potatoes. PhytoFrontiers. DOI: 10.1094/PHYTOFR-12-20-0049-R.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Qu, X.S., W.Y. Xue, and M.W. Peck. 2020. Evaluation of potato cultivars and breeding lines for resistance to common scab, 2019. Plant Disease Reports 14: V113.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Qu, X.S., W.Y. Xue, and M.W. Peck. 2020. Pennsylvania potato variety trial research report. Penn State Department of Plant Pathology Misc Publication. 50 pp.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kleinhenz, M.D., S.D. Walker, M.A. Spigos. 2020. 2020 Ohio potato germplasm evaluation report, in Cooperation with the Northeast (NE-1731) Regional Project, The Ohio State University Horticulture and Crop Science Series No. 880, Nov. 2020. 72 pp.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Makani, M.N., L. Zotarelli, S.A. Sargent, D.J. Huber, C.A. Sims. 2020. Nitrogen fertilizer rate affects yield and tuber quality of drip-irrigated tablestock potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) grown under subtropical conditions. Am. J. Potato Res. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s12230-020-09809-w
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Park J, Hackett CA, Dandurand L-M, Wang X, De Jong WS (2019). Mapping QTL for resistance to Globodera rostochiensis pathotype Ro2 and G. pallida pathotype Pa2/3 in autotetraploid potato. American Journal of Potato Research 96:552-563. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12230-019-09745-4
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Porter, G.A., P. Ocaya, B. MacFarline, and B. Plummer. 2020. Potato variety trial results in Maine, 2020 growing season. SFA Research Report (posted on www and distributed to industry), 2020-01, 39 pp. Also available at https://potatoes.ncsu.edu/NEReports.html
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Porter, G.A. and P. Ocaya. 2021. Maine potato breeding program annual report, 2020 growing season. SFA Research Report (posted on www and distributed to industry), 22 pp.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Qu, X.S., W.Y. Xue, and M.W. Peck. 2020. Evaluation of potato cultivars and breeding lines for resistance to late blight, 2019. Plant Disease Reports 14: V015.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Qu, X.S., W.Y. Xue, and M.W. Peck. 2020. Evaluation of potato cultivars and breeding lines for resistance to early blight, 2019. Plant Disease Reports 14: V016.


Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

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?Students, technicians, and professionals working on the project learned about agricultural research, potato breeding, potato cultivar development, and the need for improved potato varieties. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Advanced clones from our project are being introduced to growers through field days, on-farm demonstrations, presentations, publications, web sites, and direct contact with stakeholders at state, regional and national potato industry meetings. The advanced clones and releases from the Eastern project continue to be commercially evaluated and adopted by farmers and our industry stakeholders. Recent Eastern releases were grown on 3,185 ME and NY seed acres during 2019 with a seed value of ~$11.2M. The resulting seed crop had the potential to plant 31,851 acres in 2020 with a ware value estimated at $95.6M. Nationally, varieties produced by our long-term project were grown on 6,863 seed acres during 2019 with an approximate seed value of $24.0M and potential ware production value of $205.9M. Several varieties developed though our collective efforts are in the top 100 U.S. varieties including (acres, rank): Lamoka (3376, 7), Waneta (1114, 17), Caribou Russet (783, 24), Lehigh (399, 35), Lady Liberty (178, 48), Reba (149, 57), Pike (112, 70), Keuka Gold (96, 75), Andover (87, 79), Eva (85, 80), NY115 (74, 86), Genesee (67, 90) and Harley Blackwell (55, 96). Two of NY's recent chipping releases, Waneta and Lamoka, have been widely adopted by commercial growers. Based on 2019 certified seed acreage, Lamoka (3376 acres) has replaced Snowden (1789 acres) as the standard storage chipping variety across the U.S. Waneta has also been widely adopted (1114 acres of seed in 2019). We estimate that the annual value of potato chip production from Lamoka and Waneta exceeds one billion dollars (~15% of U.S. chip production). Caribou Russet was released by ME during 2015 for fry processing and russet fresh market. It is being rapidly adopted due to high yields, scab and verticillium resistance, and excellent consumer quality. Certified seed acreage rose to 783 acres (#24 in the US) during 2019. Caribou Russet's cash farm value to ME growers was $9.1 M during 2019. AF4124-7, AF5071-2, and AF5406-7 are advanced fry processing clones that are generating strong commercial interest. Twenty additional French fry clones are currently being evaluated by North American potato processors. Brodie (2018), formerly NY140, is a dual-purpose table and chipstock variety with excellent marketable yields, attractive tuber skin and excellent fry color out of cold storage. It is the first U.S. cultivar with resistance to race Ro2 of the golden nematode and it is also resistant to race Ro1. Lady Liberty (2018), formerly NY152, was released for chipping and has high yields, excellent chip color out of cold storage, common scab resistance, PVY immunity, and small tuber size profile (which makes it well-suited for highly popular, snack-sized bags of potato chips). Pinto Gold, a ME release in 2018, has been very valuable for direct sales in the high-value specialty market due to its attractive red and yellow patterned skin, yellow flesh, small tuber size, and excellent flavor. Other fresh market releases such as Algonquin (2017), a high yielding white, Red Maria (2010), a high-yielding red, Lehigh (2007), a widely-adapted yellow-fleshed variety, and Peter Wilcox (2007), a novel purple-skinned, yellow-fleshed variety continue to be adopted by fresh market growers. The project places special emphasis on breeding and selecting clones with resistance to late blight, early blight, scab, golden nematode races Ro1 and Ro2, potato virus Y (PVY) and other diseases. Recent releases Upstate Abundance, Lady Liberty, Eva, and Pinto Gold have resistance to PVY. Brodie and Upstate Abundance have resistance to two golden nematode races (Ro1 and Ro2). Many other recent releases have resistance to one or more important pests, including common scab, golden nematode, and verticillium wilt. All NY round whites, and most of the NY colored crosses, segregate for resistance to golden nematode Ro1 or Ro2, as do many crosses from the ME, NC and USDA programs. Disease resistant varieties generated by this project have the potential to greatly reduce growers' losses to devastating diseases such as late blight and can also reduce production costs. Golden nematode, a serious pest found in NY and in other countries, cannot be effectively managed without resistant varieties. Caribou Russet from the Maine breeding program and several diploid clones from USDA-ARS at Beltsville have shown high levels of resistance to softrot and blackleg. A recent flair up of these diseases has been devastating to eastern potato growers. Our collaborative programs are ideally located to breed and select new potato varieties for the important but stressful southeast and east coast growing areas (FL, NC, VA, MD, NJ, DE, NY, and other states). These areas are characterized by short growing seasons, inconsistent rainfall leading to both deficits and flooding, early-season frosts, and late-season heat stress. Atlantic, which occupies ~50% of NC's acreage, generated ca. $10 million in NC farm-gate receipts is a major variety throughout this region. The chip industry has indicated that replacing Atlantic is a major goal for potato variety development in the U.S. Most major varieties, including Atlantic the dominant out-of-field chipping variety in the U.S., and Lamoka a current leader in storage chipping market, have passed through the eastern U.S. potato breeding collaborative. Our collaborative project is well designed and ideally situated to address future variety needs in the eastern half of the U.S. Disease and pest challenges cost the U.S. potato industry many millions of dollars annually in yield and quality losses, as well as increased control costs. Predominant diseases in the East include late blight, early blight, common scab, powdery scab, soft rot, pink rot, and potato virus Y. Developing improved varieties with resistance to these diseases is the most sustainable long-term approach to combating them. Resistant varieties result in decreased yield and quality losses, while in some cases they allow growers to reduce their use of chemical pesticides. Sometime resistant varieties are the only practical solution to a pest problem. For example, potatoes cannot be produced in some areas of New York unless golden nematode resistant varieties are grown. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The research team plans to continue research, development, and outreach activities according to our approved project proposal and work plan.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Research activities took place in seven states (FL, ME, NC, NY, OH, PA and VA) during 2019 and early 2020. This research involved collaborations with the USDA-ARS Potato Breeding Programs in Beltsville, MD, Aberdeen, ID and Madison, WI, as well as the Potatoes USA National Chip and Fry Processor's Trials. Potato breeding for improved quality and pest resistance continued in ME, NY, and NC during 2019-2020. Our programs generated 643 new tetraploid families (445,850 seeds) from crosses using parents with desirable quality, adaptation, stress and/or pest resistance traits. First-year field selections were conducted using progeny (74,435) from earlier crosses. As a result, 3,371 new clones were selected for further field and laboratory evaluation under the diverse abiotic and biotic stress conditions of the eastern U.S. and beyond. Selection trials have been planted in all cooperating states during 2020 and these trials will be used to select advanced materials with improved yield and quality, as well as resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. Multi-site evaluation of early-generation clones speeds the breeding and selection process and enables us to identify both broadly- and specifically-adapted clones that will be useful to the U.S. potato industry and potato growers at all scales of production. In preparation for expanded use of genomic selection, our projects will be collecting expanded phenotypic data from early-selection screening trials (2nd to 3rd year of field selection) and we will genotype these clones using funds generated from other grants. Our project places special emphasis on breeding and selecting clones with resistance to late blight, early blight, scab, golden nematode races Ro1 and Ro2, potato virus Y (PVY) and other diseases. Disease screening trials in PA, evaluated varieties and advanced breeding clones for early blight resistance (288 clones), late blight resistance (407 clones), and common scab resistance (286 clones). These data are used to select resistant varieties/breeding clones. A population of 197 clones of diploid Solanum phureja - S. stenotomum hybrid were evaluated for late blight resistance. This diploid population are being genotyped using the Illumina Solanaceae Coordinated Agricultural Project (SolCAP) potato single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. Candidate genes responsible for late blight resistance will be identified. A population of 230 clones from a cross between Harley Blackwell and B0692-4 was also evaluated for early blight resistance. All clones are being genotyped and candidate genes governing early blight resistance are being identified. Marker-assisted selection is being used to speed the development of PVY and golden nematode resistant varieties in all of the breeding programs. Disease resistant varieties generated by this project have the potential to greatly reduce growers' losses to devastating diseases such as late blight and can also reduce production costs. Experiments in ME are being used to identify clones with resistance to pink rot, black leg, and softrot. Caribou Russet from the Maine breeding program and several diploid clones from USDA-ARS at Beltsville have shown high levels of resistance to blackleg and softrot's causative organisms, Dickeya dianthicola and Pectobacterium parmentieri. These clones will be further investigated by genomic mapping. Research on the genetics of internal heat necrosis (IHN) and the development of clones and populations with improved resistance to this tuber defect continued. The test site in NC provides good environmental conditions for selecting for IHN resistance. During 2019 and 2020, NC continued to screen early generation and advanced clones from our breeding programs for IHN incidence and severity. The NC mapping population B2721 has been genotyped with the Infinium® 8303 SNP array developed by the USDA-NIFA SolCAP project and quantitative trait loci (QTL) were detected for IHN on chromosomes 1, 5, 9, and 12. We have tentatively identified several candidate markers for IHN susceptibility. The B2721 population has also been phenotyped for chip color, specific gravity, and scab reaction. QTL analyses of these traits has been conducted. These data will be used in future genomic selection efforts to reduce the impact of this important stress-related disorder. ME continues to advance marker assisted selection (MAS) protocols for potato breeding and is improving the automation process to speed throughput. A training module is also being developed to streamline and train more personnel as well as to increase efficiency and accuracy of the MAS procedures. Work is also underway to develop mapping populations using elite tetraploid potato germplasm that contain PVY, late blight and black leg resistance to investigate the genetic components of these important traits. We continue to evaluate primary dihaploid progeny of haploid induction crosses using the IVP48 haploid inducer on Atlantic, Caribou Russet and NY121. Additionally, whole genome sequencing libraries were generated and Illumina sequencing will be performed. We plan to evaluate the inheritance of late blight and PVY resistance in the NY121 dihaploid population, and for blackleg and soft rot resistance in the Caribou Russet dihaploid population. In 2020, we induced six additional elite tetraploid lines using IVP48; Castle Russet, Payette Russet, Lamoka, NY121, Dakota Trailblazer and Saginaw Chipper. Seed extraction, tissue culture germination and ploidy determination are underway. Our project web site and searchable database continues to grow in size and utility. It has now migrated to a more powerful and the user-friendly Variety Data Management platform (https://neproject.medius.re/). Our projects are expanding the use of digital capture of phenotypic data so that it can be efficiently integrated with expanding genomic data. The combined information will enhance future genomic selection efforts.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Christensen, C.T., L. Zotarelli, K.G. Haynes, C.E. Kelly. 2020. The comparative evaluation of the effects of gibberellic acid concentrations on dormancy break in tubers of Solanum chacoense. Horttechnology 20:76-81. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH4448-19
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Haynes, K.G., L. Zotarelli, C.T. Christensen, S.Walker. 2019. Early Generation Selection Within a Diploid Hybrid Solanum tuberosum Groups Phureja and Stenotomum Population for the Specialty Potato Market in the United States. HortScience 54(12):2118-2124. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI13576-18
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Comai L.,E.H. Tan. 2019. Haploid Induction and Genome Instability. Trends in Genetics, doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2019.07.005
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Dandurand L-M, I.A. Zasada, X. Wang, B. Mimee, W. De Jong, R. Novy, J. Whitworth, J.C. Kuhl. 2019. Current Status of Potato Cyst Nematodes in North America. Annual Review of Phytopathology 57: 117-133. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-phyto-082718-100254
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Johnson, A.M., G. Porter, and M.E. Camire. 2019. Low-acrylamide French Fry Acceptance: A Pilot Study. Journal of Food Science. 84(12) 3717-3725.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Kleinhenz, M.D., S.D. Walker. 2019. 2019 Ohio potato germplasm evaluation report, in Cooperation with the Northeast (NE-1731) Regional Project, The Ohio State University Horticulture and Crop Science Series No. 877, Nov. 2019. 68 pp.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Kolech, S.A. W. De Jong, D. Halseth, S. Schulz S. 2019. Understanding farmer needs and unlocking local genetic resources for potato improvement: a case study in Ethiopia. African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development 19:13883-13905. DOI: 10.18697/ajfand.84.BLFB1012
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Porter, G.A., P. Ocaya, B. MacFarline, and B. Plummer. 2019. Potato variety trial results in Maine, 2019 growing season. SFA Research Report (posted on www and distributed to industry), 2019-01, 40 pp.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Porter, G.A. and P. Ocaya. 2019. Maine potato breeding program annual report, 2019 growing season. SFA Research Report (posted on www and distributed to industry), 22 pp.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Porter, G.A., P. Ocaya, and T. Mills. 2019. Nitrogen rate effects on yield and fry processing quality of Caribou Russet. American Journal of Potato Research. 96: 317 (abst)
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 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, L. Zotarelli, G.C. Yencho, J.B. Endelman. 2019. Genetic Covariance of Environments in the Potato National Chip Processing Trial. Crop Science 58:1-8. doi: 10.2135/cropsci2018.05.0314
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Silva, A.L.B.R., L.G. Pesantes, W. Mussoline, G.K. England, L. Zotarelli. 2019. N-fertilizer rate and timing for potato irrigated with seepage and subsurface drain-tile in Florida. 2019 Proceedings of the Potato Association of America Annual Meeting. Winnipeg, Canada. p.39 (abst).