News Potatoes
Potato is better against phytophthora with 'vaccine'
Belgian scientists claim to have achieved a breakthrough in the fight against phytophthora. A team from the University of Ghent, led by Professor Geert Haesaert, has developed a method to make potatoes develop an increased resistance to phytophthora.
The scientists investigated possible alternatives to the current fungicides, which are used against late blight. One of the alternatives that has been studied is Green Leaf Volatiles (GLV). These are substances that plants excrete when they sustain tissue damage, such as when mowing grass. Some of these substances can give signals to other plants. As a result, tolerance to diseases can be increased.
Activate resistance
Potato plants of the Bintje variety were exposed to a GLV (Z-3HAC) which produces the typical smell of freshly mown grass. Thereafter, the plants were infected with phytophthora at different times. "We observed that the pre-exposed potato plants showed typical hypersensitivity symptoms indicating activation of the resistance mechanism in the treated plants," says Haesaert at Vilt. "The result was a marked reduction in disease intensity". The product thus acts as a kind of vaccine for the plant.
The discovery is a major victory in the fight against potato blight, the researchers claim. In the light of the European Green Deal with the objectives set therein to reduce the use of crop protection products by 50%, the need for alternatives will become great, according to Haesaert. "Optimization of dosage and formulation and targeted modification of GLVs to enhance defense responses in potato plants offers great potential for sustainable potato disease control".
Jurphaas Lugtenburg
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