RE SEARCH EAPR offers in-depth T knowledge meeting The European Association for Potato Research (EAPR) is organising a number of high-quality knowledge meetings in various countries this year, where company consultants and researchers can meet each other. One of these meetings will be held in the Netherlands from 28 to 30 June and has the theme of post harvest. he EAPR’s aim is to exchange a wide range of knowledge about potatoes among researchers and company consultants from all over the world. In this way, the Association wants to foster collaboration, to which end it organises a full congress every three years, the 20th edition of which will be organised in Paris next year. In the years between congresses, the EAPR members organise Sub Sessions at which a specific topic is explored in depth. One of those meetings will be held in the Netherlands this year, in Wageningen, the heart of international agricultural knowledge. The topic that organisers Tjaart Hofman of Certis Europe and Glyn Harper of the British AHDB (Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board want to explore is post harvest, or everything that follows after the harvest. During these meetings, they will present interested professionals from trade, industry, and research institutes with a wide variety of subjects, ranging from basic to practical research. The spectrum includes a range of topics from the development of calcium in the eyes during storage to a better air distribution in box storage in order to be able to dose Chloro-IPC better. Tackle wet rot after washing Hofman explained that the meeting will be divided into a number of main topics, which will be further explored in depth. The first item on the agenda is storage diseases. The present EAPR Chairman, the Frenchman Michel Martin, will explain during this session the effect of washing tubers on the number of cysts present on the seed potato tuber. Allison Blackwell of the Scottish company APS Biocontrol will then explain what a bacterial virus, a pathogen of a bacterium, can do to tackle bacteria after washing. This method can prevent wet rot in potatoes during their shelf life. Certis will also throw light on the current state of affairs relating to the active substance Imazalil. Hofman says that growers can use Imazalil in seed potato storage as usual this year, but they are then no longer permitted to sell the tubers (usually oversized seed) as consumption or stock feed potatoes. Hofman says that there will be a maximum residue level (MRL) again in the future, but that will take a few years until the new studies on toxicity have been reviewed, and a vote in the European Commission has given a new MRL. Until such time, seed potatoes treated with Imazalil won’t be allowed to be sold in the food or stock feed markets. We’ll invest in a taskforce with other companies that also sell products with Imazalil’, Hofman explains. During the EAPR meeting, professionals from trade, industry, and research institutes will be presented a wide variety of subjects, ranging from basic to practical research, co-organiser Tjaart Hofman explains. Trend toward residue-free storage The topic of sprout inhibition is also given a great deal of attention at the congress. Hofman points to a worldwide trend towards the use of residue-free preservatives. He wonders how the sector will solve this, ’because sprouting management must be well-maintained’, Hofman argues. At this moment, there are already products, such as Crown MH, Biox M, Ethylene and 1.4-Sight, available on the Dutch market. In the United States, the residue-free Smartblock by AMVAC has already taken up a big share of the market. That’s why John Immaraju of the American firm AMVAC will be here to speak about the possibilities of this natural sprouting inhibitor in Europe. ‘Certis had hoped that Smartblock would also have been admitted to the Dutch market this year, but because of Potato World 2016 • number 2 35 Pagina 34
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