Johnson talks with WVII-TV about potato disease at summit
WVII (Channel 7) reported on the Potato Disease Summit convened by the University of Maine. Plant pathologists, researchers and scientists from the Netherlands, Scotland and United States met at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor to share information on the bacteria Dickeya and Pectobacterium that cause potatoes to rot and threaten the industry worldwide. “The pathogen will rot the seed. The plant doesn’t come up so it produces nothing. It may rot the tuber in the field. It may produce 20 to 80 percent less yield in the field. It may rot the potatoes in storage,” said Steven Johnson, University of Maine Cooperative Extension crops specialist. “What we have been doing to control this disease through tissue culture and through the sanitation isn’t working.” PotatoPro also reported on the summit and cited the WVII report.