Improving Sustainable Potato Production by Controlling Diseases and Boosting Production
The Agriculture Funding Consortium has given almost USD250,000 in funding to University of Lethbridge (U of L) researchers to improve sustainable potato production by examining strategies to prevent disease in the field and storage and to boost production while using as few resources as possible.
A grant of roughly USD50,000 has been given to Dr. Larry Flanagan, a professor of biology, to investigate the water-use efficiency of six varieties of potatoes used in the production of fries and chips in southern Alberta.
“Our research will benefit the potato industry in southern Alberta by providing new information to producers. The efficient use of water in crop production in an arid region like ours is an important goal for increasing sustainable potato production,” Flanagan said.
Flanagan and collaborators Drs. Jonathan Neilson from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Michele Konschuh and Dmytro Yevtushenko from the University of Lethbridge will use stable isotope techniques to identify water-efficient potato varieties for use in crop production under anticipated future warmer and dryer conditions that will strain our water resources.
A different project was given USD200,000 to biology professor Yevtushenko to create and evaluate techniques to find pests and diseases that affect potatoes.
“Disease incidence in both the field and in storage remains a major limiting factor in sustainable potato production. This study aims to develop diagnostic molecular protocols for fast and reliable identification of the major existing and emerging potato pests and pathogens in Alberta,” Yevtushenko mentioned.
Yevtushenko will concentrate on identifying nematodes, which are parasites, and fungal diseases like pink rot, potato stem canker, and black scurf that are known to cause significant potato losses in Alberta. His collaborators include Drs. Michele Konschuh and Jie Feng, a research scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation.
The project is anticipated to create data and result in the adoption of innovative technologies that will uphold Alberta’s standing as a top Canadian producer of premium potatoes and improve the profitability and sustainability of the potato sector.