Increased risk of potato fatigue

Globodera pallida (Pa), one of the causes of potato fatigue, is rapidly spreading in the Dutch starch potato areas. The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) warns of increased virulence.

Research has mapped Pallida populations, which multiply strongly on resistant varieties. The cause of this unusual multiplication is the selection of more virulent nematodes. The selection takes place with frequent use of resistant varieties. Due to the increase in virulence, potato growers run the risk that potato varieties that are currently resistant to potato slugs will still be affected by the plant disease. This means that the most commonly used – and hitherto very effective – measure to combat potato sluggishness is no longer available.

The increased virulence has major consequences for the control of potato slugs for affected growers. Especially for growers of seed potatoes and for growers who rent out potato plots for the cultivation of starting material, it is of great importance to keep the plots free of the more virulent population. When the increased virulence is present, only drastic measures such as flooding are suitable to get rid of an infection.

To tackle contamination with Globodera pallida, the starch potato sector has initiated an action plan. The most important points are raising awareness and encouraging voluntary soil research.

Another important point is to prevent the spread of virulent populations, for example by properly cleaning loading equipment when plots are changed.

Extra vigilance is also required for growers outside the starch potato area. It is important for these growers that they prevent adhering soil from the starch potato area from ending up on other plots. In addition, disappointing results from (voluntary) soil sampling and persistent AM infections may indicate that the applied resistance no longer works. Further research (intensive sampling and variety selection test) and extra hygiene measures are then necessary.

The NVWA expects that it may take several years before potato varieties are developed that are also resistant to the increased virulence. Until then, it is important that potato growers take the above advice to heart to prevent contamination.

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