Subject: Potatoes On their way out???-New Blight

From: [email-masked] (Conrad Jay Bladey)
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 03:55:58 GMT

Sample header

08-05-94  New Strain Of Irish Potato Famine Fungus Threatens U.S. Growers

HASTINGS---New strains of the fungus that wiped out crops 150
years ago in the Irish Potato Famine are being detected in the
United States and could cause devastating losses to potato
growers, a University of Florida researcher says.

      Until 1990, only one strain of "late blight" was detected in
North America, but in 1992, a second strain was discovered. Now
researchers fear that the sexual reproduction of these two
strains could produce newer, aggressive strains that may wreak
havoc for potato growers across the nation, said D.P.
Weingartner, with UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural
Sciences.

      September 1995 marks the anniversary of the Irish Potato
Famine, which over a two-year period wiped out Ireland's main
cash and food crop and forced thousands, including John F.
Kennedy's ancestors, to emigrate to America.

      "It's an ironic coincidence that the 150th anniversary of
late blight in Ireland coincides with changes in the fungus,
which may be second in importance only to the initial
introduction of late blight into North America and Europe in the
1840s," Weingartner said.

      Resistance to fungicide used to combat late blight prompted
detailed studies, which led to the discovery of this new strain
that spreads faster, is more difficult to control and reproduces
differently, Weingartner said. Both strains of late blight have
been found in Florida, destroying entire crops.  

      Florida growers cultivate 42,000 acres of potatoes, with
more than 27,000 acres in production in the northeastern counties
of Putnam, St. Johns and Flagler, Weingartner said.

      To grow potatoes, growers plant "seed tubers," or potatoes
cut into two-inch pieces that contain an "eye" or sprout, he
said. 

      Presumably, seed tubers transmitted late blight, which
originated in the highlands of Mexico and then made its way to
Europe and finally across the Atlantic Ocean to North America.

      To combat late blight, Florida growers import seed tubers
>from  states that have inspections and are assured for the lowest
levels of late blight.

      "The relative impact of late blight during a given season
will be dependent on weather conditions, blight severity in
potato seed-producing states, mix of genotypes introduced in seed
tubers and diligence of commercial growers in practicing good
management practices," Weingartner said.

      The coupling of the two strains of late blight will produce
a resistant spore that can survive in the ground all year,
Weingartner said.      

      Late blight, which causes visible brown lesions on potatoes,
is currently controlled using a fungicide. Extensive use of
fungicide coupled with generally unfavorable weather conditions
for late blight development in most North American potato-
producing regions reduced its spread in the late 1980s and 1990s,
Weingartner said.

      "Even when late blight occurred in Florida potatoes during
this period, timely application of fungicide quickly eliminated
the problem," Weingartner said. 

                                   #  #  #

Sample footerThe Idaho Tater

This song was written by Hank BRadley of Washington State:

Well along around 1974, I left Sun Valley, It was such a bore
Took my Ray Bans and my Guccii Doves
And I went out to work in them Idaho Spuds

Well I rolled on out to Burely Town
Found a cute litttle Russet all knobby and brown
I said "Sweet thing, I'll did you later
Right now I'm looking for an Idaho 'tater"

Well the Idaho Spud was long and green,
covered with butter and sour cream
Just dig it from the ground and kick of the mud
Oh there never was a t2ater like the Idaho Spud

They eat the lobsters on the coast of Maine
And the Gilla monster on the Texas plain
Black men down under eat the wigity grub
But they all taste better with the Idaho Shud

You can make it into salad, you can make it into beer
Eat it witha chicken or an old dead steer
Stopper up a gas can or serve it at a club
Oh there never was a tater like the Idaho Spud

(chorus)

There's nuclear waste on the desert floor
And the NRC wants to ship in some more
Big hole in the ground where they're dumping their crud
Making radioactive Idaho spuds

Got a cute little mutant on the cabin floor,
and another half-kid to stop the door
They light right up like greem tomatoes
Cause I'm feeding them young 'ins nuclear 'taters

(Chorus)

Cornell Chronicle (05/06/93): Potato blight fungus poses serious threat

By William Holder

Variants of the fungus that caused the Irish potato blight of the 1840s are
spreading throughout the world with potentially serious repercussions for home
gardeners and commercial growers.

Now well-established in Europe and Mexico, the variants have gained a foothold
in the United States during the past three years. Last summer,
infestations 
were
reported at numerous new locations, ranging from New York to   Washington
state,
according to Cornell plant pathologists.

The ongoing migrations may be the first worldwide spread of potato late blight
since the devastating migration that produced famine in Ireland, although that
assertion has yet to be proved, said William Fry, professor of   plant
pathology.

While no one expects famine from the blight, which infects potatoes and
tomatoes, scientists are concerned that the new fungus will significantly
complicate efforts to control infestations, and that uncontrolled infections
could diminish yields and profits for farmers. They could not estimate the
potential damage from this outbreak. Some of the variants are resistant to
metalaxyl, the fungicide most commonly used for control.

"This disease is remarkably explosive," Fry said. "An affected field looks
like
it has been burned."

The new migration contains forms known as the A2 mating type of P. infestans,
which can sexually reproduce with the already well-established A1 mating type
(cause of the Irish potato famine). This worries scientists, because   sexual
reproduction produces spores that can survive possibly for months in the soil.
Such spores have been observed in Europe and Mexico, but not so far in the
United States.

Steven Slack, Cornell professor of plant pathology, cited his concern that
spores in the soil would lead to more blight outbreaks. Without spores, the
disease must overwinter in tubers or plant material to survive.

Compounding the problem for New York growers is that the wet weather of 1992
caused some potato and tomato fields to be abandoned, and these have become
ideal repositories of disease.

Representatives of Cornell Cooperative Extension and industry have formed a
blight working group in New York to facilitate adoption of disease management
strategies. A forthcoming publication, written by Rosemary Loria,   associate
professor of plant pathology, warns that the abundance of blight sources
resistant to metalaxyl "does set the stage for major disease management
problems." Control of the disease in Washington state over the last   several
years has proved to be much more difficult than growers expected.

The disease poses special risks to home gardeners and organic farmers, who
typically do not adopt the chemical control measures used by commercial
farmers.
The Cornell researchers urged both groups to destroy any infected   plants
and,
in areas where blight is present, to keep potato or tomato plant material
out 
of
composts, where the disease may survive through the winter.

The first signs of blight are brown flecks on leaves and stems, but the
disease
is most easily characterized a few days after onset by white, velvety
growth 
at
the edge of brown-black lesions.

"Commercial growers and producers of seed potatoes will have to be very
careful," Slack said. Because it's impossible for farmers to keep out the
disease, they will have to adopt strategies to minimize a recurrence. These
include eliminating sources of disease, adopting resistant cultivars and using
protective fungicides - once infected, a plant cannot be saved.

Growers are advised to inquire about the presence of late blight in potato
seed
fields, tomato transplant fields and even in greenhouse-grown tomato
transplants. Late blight was not found in New York seed fields entered   for
certification in 1992.

The A2 mating type poses yet another peril. Sexual reproduction produces the
most genetic diversity, and combinations of A1 and A2 could yield new and more
virulent strains of the disease, according to Fry.

DNA fingerprinting

Evidence suggests that, so far, the fungus has propagated asexually. Use
of 
DNA
fingerprinting and other techniques (carried out by Stephen Goodwin, a
research
associate at Cornell) strongly indicates that prior to 1980,   isolates of
fungus from several continents (excluding North America) were all derived
>from  
a
single clonal line. To what extent the variants will cross-breed is
unknown, 
Fry
said.

The central highlands of Mexico appear to be the home of the potato blight
fungus. Historically, it is the only area where both mating types occur in
equal
frequency (the A2 type has been known since the 1950s). This also   is the
only
location containing all the known DNA fingerprints, Fry said.

Cornell Chronicle (07/23/92): Potato peels contain chemical residues

 -------------------------------- Page 1 of 6 --------------------------------
By Susan Lang

Potato peels harbor significant amounts of chemical residues that may be
mildly
toxic, adding to the evidence that potato peels could be harmful to people,
according to a new Cornell study.

The study shows that chemical sprout inhibitors, which have been shown to have
mild toxic effects in animals, remain on the skins in amounts four times
greater
than government guidelines, said Nell Mondy, professor of nutritional  
sciences
in the College of Human Ecology and an authority on the biochemical and
nutritional aspects of fresh and processed potatoes. No human studies on the
chemical residues have been reported.

 Previous Cornell research, however, has shown that potato peels also contain
natural, but highly toxic, chemical substances called glycoalkaloids.
 -------------------------------- Page 2 of 6 --------------------------------
"Sprout inhibitors are important chemicals that help prevent shrinkage,
blackening, nutrient loss and susceptibility to bruising, and may even reduce
the accumulation of some natural toxic chemicals that accompany sprouting,"
she said.

"Our studies indicate, however, that the peels of dry or moist-cooked potatoes
retain up to 20 times more sprout inhibitor residue than the pith (inside) of
the potato."

Mondy and graduate student Cyrus Munshi reported their findings at the annual
meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists in New Orleans in June. Former
graduate student Colleen Wurm is a co-author.

The researchers analyzed the residue of the most widely used and "least
offensive" sprout inhibitor, isopropyl N-(3-Chlorophenyl)-carbamate, or CIPC,
which is now used on 90-95 percent of stored potatoes in this country.
 -------------------------------- Page 3 of 6 --------------------------------
"Only limited data are available on the toxicological effects of CIPC, but
animal studies have shown it to have a weak toxic activity," Mondy said. "That
raised enough concern for us to look at the residue of CIPC in cooked
potatoes."

The nutritional scientists looked at residues in Katahdin and Russet Burbank
potatoes that were cooked with both dry heat (baked with and without foil, and
microwaved) and moist heat (pressure-cooked and boiled).

They found that in all the methods, the highest levels of residue were
found 
in
the peels which contained at least 20 times more of the chemical than the
pulp.
The peel had more than four times the safety level of 50 ppm   (parts per
million) designated by the Food and Drug Administration. The pulp,
however, 
was
generally below this level. The highest levels in the pulp were found in the
boiled potatoes cooked with the peel, apparently due   to the migration of
CIPC
>from  the peel into the pulp during cooking.
 -------------------------------- Page 4 of 6 --------------------------------
"Peeling potatoes prior to cooking, however, removes most of the problems
associated with toxic substances in the peel," said Mondy, who advocates that
food processors peel potatoes early as well. "Although most potatoes   are
baked
in the peel, most of the toxicants would remain in the peel and not
penetrate 
to
the pith."

That the peel contains the lions' share of nutrients in potatoes is "pure
folklore," said Mondy, who points out that the benefit of peeling potatoes far
outweighs the loss of fiber and riboflavin in the peel. "In fact, in   other
studies, we've found that one of the potato's most important vitamins,
ascorbic
acid (vitamin C), as well as its protein and other nutrients are scattered
throughout the potato pulp."

Mondy endorses the peeled potato as one of the most perfect foods with its
high
quality protein, providing all but one of the essential amino acids, and other
important nutrients, including calcium, niacin, several B vitamins,  
vitamin 
C,
potassium, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, magnesium and iron.
 -------------------------------- Page 5 of 6 --------------------------------
New potato variety

In separate potato studies, a new variety of potato developed by Cornell
researchers resists a major insect pest as well as do potatoes treated
with 
a
potent chemical insecticide, the researchers report.

Ten years in the making, the potato controls the Colorado potato beetle
just 
as
well as do potatoes treated with aldicarb, a highly effective pesticide
that 
was
withdrawn from the market, according to Robert Plaisted, a   professor of
plant
breeding and biometry. He estimated that this new cultivar could reduce
farmers'
production costs by $200 an acre.

Aldicarb was withdrawn by its manufacturer two years ago because it had the
potential for significant ground water pollution. Farmers have had no
substitute
that is as effective at controlling this pest, Plaisted said. It   is a
serious
problem anywhere potatoes are grown, although the worst infestations have
occurred in Long Island and New Jersey.
 -------------------------------- Page 6 of 6 --------------------------------
The Cornell potato has not yet been marketed, but Plaisted said he is
confident
that one derived from it will be available soon to growers. The variety being
tested is currently available as a source of germplasm, or seed   material.

News Service science writer William Holder contributed to this report.

So If anyone has any update to this information please contact me at this e.
mail.

It is important to reflect upon the potato crop as we commemorate the famine.

Conrad Jay Bladey
--

JOIN THE POTATO ABSTENTION:9/9/95 PLAN EVENT/FEED HUNGRY/Educate Public!!!!!!
Commemorate the Great Famine-Ireland 1845-Correct spelling-the devil's work!!
CELTIC STUDIES AND TEACHING IN BALTO.MD.USA AREA-SAVE CULTURE-CLASSES ANYONE?