Potato World vision Robust varieties make potato hot The mood on the potato market is currently very good, with prices between 25 and 30 euros. The big question for producers now is: should I sell or should I wait? Many expect prices to go beyond 30 euros. Russia is the big player this year. As a result of the hot and dry summer, the yield is millions of tons lower than normal. Russia is buying potatoes from all the major potato-producing countries in Europe. Russia is also active on the import market and they tie up potatoes in countries like Israel, Egypt and even in Iraq and SAudi Arabia. The cultivation of potatoes is hot because it is increasingly being recognised that the potato is part of the basic food package. Another important aspect of growing potatoes is that much less water is used than for the cultivation of rice, by roughly a factor of three. Several years, ago I visited China. The government there has also already realised that less water is needed for growing potatoes, for which reason the country was ordered to double the production of potatoes from 50 to 100 million tons. In the western world and Europe, there are also still opportunities for growing potatoes. An important feature of potatoes is that you feel satisfied for longer after you have eaten them. So, in my view, the potato also plays an important role in the battle against obesity. The big question is with what varieties do we facilitate the above-mentioned developments? What strikes me this year in the sale of seed is that robust varieties are the most popular. Robust varieties are those that are capable of withstanding higher temperatures and drought. I think that it is precisely these new, robust varieties that will do well in the newly-developing markets of emerging potato countries. I am convinced that these new, robust varieties will keep cultivation and markets hot for the entire international potato chain. ● Ben Bredek Director of Europlant Aardappel BV Wageningen University has again been successful in forcing a breakthrough in the DNA research of a formidable adversary of the potato. Researchers of Plant Research International (PRI) have, in fact, very recently managed to isolate DNA from the causer of wart disease. This involves the soil fungus Synchytrium endobioticum. According to scientists, the unravelling of the DNA of this fungus is an important step forward in the research on sustainable control of wart disease in potatoes. In the laboratories of Wageningen, they had a hard nut to crack in unravelling Synchytrium endobioticum. We are talking about a parasitic fungus here, which in order to survive requires a host, the potato, for example. This characteristic makes it rather difficult for the researchers to obtain DNA of the fungus. They first had to develop a protocol to isolate the DNA from warts, which grow on the potato after being infected by the fungus. The researchers picked out one isolate of Synchytrium endobioticum and infected the potato plants with that. The resultant warts were cut from the plants, after which the PRI isolated the DNA from the winter sporangia. The new protocol provides a relatively pure fungus DNA extract, which contains only very little DNA from the potato itself, according to the researchers. In their view, this makes unravelling the complete DNA order of the fungus easier, quicker and cheaper. Major step forward It is expected that the genome sequence will be available in three to four months’ time. With the mapping of the Synchytrium endobioticum structure, the PRI thinks that a great deal of useful information about the fungus will become available. It will soon be clear why this potato pest cannot do without a host and how it differs from other fungi. This is information that signifies a major step forward in the research into combating wart disease and the development of molecular tests to distinguish between the different types of wart disease. ● PW-ACTUA DNA wart disease unravelled Potato World 2011 • number 1 7 Pagina 6
Pagina 8Interactieve digitale jaarverslag, deze club blad of relatiemagazine is levensecht online geplaatst met Online Touch en bied het digitaal bladerbaar uitgeven van e-clubbladen.
Potatoworld 2011/1 Lees publicatie 19Home