UK: Scottish scientists discover potato varieties resistant to potato cyst nematodes

The findings of a ground-breaking farm trial investigating potato varieties resistant to crop-destroying potato cyst nematodes (PCN) were revealed last week at the James Hutton Institute (JHI) in Invergowrie. The PCN Action Scotland Winter Conference welcomed delegates from the Scottish farming community and shared updates from a 2022 trial to tackle the threat of the major potato pests. Thanks to scientists from JHI, SoilEssentials, Scottish Agronomy, SRUC and SASA working collaboratively on this Scottish Government-funded project, new varieties of potato have been shown to be both highly resistant to PCN, and suitable for growth in Scotland’s climate. Dr. Philip Burgess, Scottishpotatoes.org (a JHI and SRUC partnership) lead, said, “Although we are already aware of potato varieties that do not allow PCN to multiply as they are resistant to infection, they can still cause significant yield losses as despite the resistance, the root systems can still be eaten away by the pests. ...