New spud varieties require fewer inputs

By DAVE WILKINS

Capital Press

POCATELLO, Idaho -- Potato growers can't go to an industry meeting anymore without hearing a talk about sustainability.

They're told they need to reduce their carbon footprint and adhere to good agricultural practices. Fast food restaurants are also under pressure to reduce the amount of pesticides applied to the spuds they serve as french fries.

The industry has changed and potato breeders are changing spuds to keep up, researchers said at the Idaho Potato Conference this week. The theme was "Putting Sustainability into Practice."

Researchers outlined some of the advantages of new Russet varieties compared with the industry standard -- the Russet Burbank.

Most of the new varieties that have come out of the tri-state breeding program (Idaho, Oregon and Washington) in recent years have appreciably higher nitrogen use efficiencies compared with the Burbank, said Jeff Stark, director of the University of Idaho's potato variety development program.

Alturas, a newer processing Russet, uses about 42 percent less nitrogen fertilizer than the Burbank to produce the same yield, he said.

Premier Russet uses about 27 percent less nitrogen and Clearwater Russet uses about 25 percent less.

Some of the new spud varieties also stand up to drought stress much better and require fewer pesticides because of improved disease resistance, researchers reported.

"There are quite a few varieties where there is a significant potential for reducing pesticide use because of greater disease resistance," Stark said.

"These varieties have some issues, but we're learning to manage them as we go along, and hopefully they will be able to make a real difference in the industry," he said.

A couple of new Russet releases -- Jacqueline Lee and Defender -- offer improved resistance to late blight, said Rich Novy, a potato researcher with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service in Aberdeen, Idaho.

Better late blight resistance could translate into substantial savings on fungicide applications, he said.

Other new varieties with improved resistance to nematodes have the potential to significantly cut the cost of fumigation, Novy said.

Despite the development of promising low-input varieties, major fast food chains have been slow to accept the new varieties, officials said.

More to come

See the Jan. 29 edition of the Capital Press for more news from the annual potato conference.

Link

Idaho Potato Conference: http://www.extension.uidaho.edu/district4/Potato%20Conference/potato.html