Research reports on late blight disease in potatoes

Monitoring late blight in potatoes in GB

Samples submitted by agronomists and growers as part of the Fight Against Blight campaign were studied in a series of research projects (2004-2022). 

The long term data sets (blight outbreaks and weather data) were also used to revise disease risk criteria:

11120018  PhD Studentship:  Development and implementation of a new national warning system for potato late blight in GB (Hutton Criteria) 2014-2017 

• FAB data used to test the performance of the Smith Period in forecasting late blight disease outbreaks
• Hutton Criteria were developed and were adopted by BlightWatch 2017-2020.

11120032 BlightSense: spatiotemporal analyses of potato late blight outbreaks in GB (2017-2019)

• FAB data and machine learning techniques were used to analyse weather, soil, geology, and topography data to identify the principle factors associated with late blight occurrence.

Testing fungicide resistance management strategies on the selection for Phytophthora infestans on potato

• The aim of the project was to determine, and rank, effective strategies to slow the selection for strains with decreased sensitivity to fungicides.

Management of late blight disease in potatoes

R242 Comparative efficacy of fungicides for control of late blight in potatoes (2003-2005)

• field trials (two per annum) to evaluate fungicide spray programmes for the control of foliar and tuber blight
• the report refers to fungicides that are no longer approved for use on potatoes in GB

R293 Exploring the potential for cost savings through matching late blight fungicide inputs to cultivar resistance in potatoes (2007-2008)

• two field trials (in 2007) to evaluate the integration of cultivar resistance, fungicide product, spray interval and dose
• foliar resistances of 13 varieties were evaluated against the 13_A2 genotype in the field in 2008

114R477 Strategies for integrated deployment of host resistance and fungicides to sustain effective crop protection (2014-2016)

• field trials (two per annum) and mathematical modelling techniques to examine the benefits of integrated control
• use of cultivar resistance delays the evolution of fungicide insensitivity and the use of fungicide delays the evolution of virulence
• integrating the two control methods extends their durability

1100007 Optimised detection and control of potato blight: sensing pathogens to inform smart spray decisions (2015-2018)

• development of an automated spore trap system for late blight

115R486 PhD: Improved timing of curative blight fungicides for superior control of late blight and greater cost effectiveness (2014-2017)

• characterisation of the curative effect of selected fungicides (propamocarb-HCl + fluopicolide)
• pathogen growth at different temperatures
• field trials to evaluate the decline in curative control with increasing disease development time

R449 Evaluating the effectiveness of mineral oils in minimising the spread of non-persistent viruses in potato seed crops in GB (2011-2014)

• field trials to compare the blight control achieved by commonly used blight control products with and without the addition of a mineral oil

 Fungicide resistance management

11120176 Fungicide resistance management for potato (2020-2022)

• field trials to rank the effectiveness of commercially relevant fungicide resistance management strategies